Just One Evil Act

A Lynley Novel

By: Elizabeth George

Narrated by: Davina Porter

Length: 28 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George offers the latest in her Inspector Lynley series: a gripping child-in-danger story featuring fan favorite Barbara Havers.

Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers is at a loss: The daughter of her friend Taymullah Azhar has been taken by her mother, and Barbara can't really help - Azhar had never married Angelina, and his name isn't on Hadiyyah's, their daughter's, birth certificate. He has no legal claim. Azhar and Barbara hire a private detective, but the trail goes cold.

Azhar is just beginning to accept his soul-crushing loss when Angelina reappears with shocking news: Hadiyyah is missing, kidnapped from an Italian marketplace. The Italian police are investigating, and the Yard won't get involved, until Barbara takes matters into her own hands. As she attempts to navigate the complicated waters of doing anything for the case against her superior's orders, her partner, Inspector Thomas Lynley, is dispatched to Italy as the liaison between the Italian police and Hadiyyah's distraught parents.

In time, both Barbara and Lynley discover that the case is far more complex than just a kidnapping, revealing secrets about Angelina; her new lover, Lorenzo; and even Azhar - secrets Barbara may not be willing to accept. With both her job and the life of a little girl on the line, Barbara must decide what matters most and how far she's willing to go to protect it.

©2013 Elizabeth George (P)2013 Penguin Audio

They just get better

And Havers becomes a deeper and more interesting character. Not only an especially intricate ‘mystery’ —wow—but Tommy’s personal journey after his gruesome tragedy moves forward delicately and with surety.

Twist and turns

The book had so many characters that you literally need a diagram to keep them all straight. The plot was good but it’s a struggle. Enjoyed but.. hard to recommend due so many languages, characters etc.

Choose Narrators Wisely!

What made the experience of listening to Just One Evil Act the most enjoyable?

I started listening to this series because of Lynley. Over time, I have found Barbara Havers to be even more interesting. This time, I'll leave a review of the book to others. My comments here concern the narration. Normally, I like Davina Porter. This time, I want to strangle her and I'm not even halfway through the story. A large part of the story takes place in Tuscany, which I was looking forward to. Before we even board the plane, however, Ms. Porter is tossing out mangled Italian words with abandon. The main problem is a misplaced accent, which takes me right out of the story. The latest cringeworthy words are "macchina" (car) and "aspettami" (wait for me). The former word is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable and not the second, which is where Ms. Porter places it; the latter word is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable and not the third. She stresses the wrong syllable in "Jacopo" (Porto San Jacopo). Aha! Someone must have corrected her, because she just pronounced it correctly. This problem of mispronounced words is not restricted to Italian. I have heard it with French, most recently, when a reader pronounced the "grâce" in "coup de grâce" as if it were written "grah." Even native English speakers routinely mispronounce some words; for example, I have never heard a narrator pronounce "primer" correctly. I refer to the primer that is a reader (textbook), which is pronounced as if it were spelled "primmer." Narrators would do themselves, and their listeners, a favor if they checked out Forvo.com before reading books that contain words in a language other than English or, for that matter, books that contain unfamiliar English words.

Barbara Being Barbara

If you could sum up Just One Evil Act in three words, what would they be?

Story Character Development

What was one of the most memorable moments of Just One Evil Act?

Lynley shows up unexpectedly at Barbara's home.

Which character – as performed by Davina Porter – was your favorite?

I was drawn to the Italian detective, much to my surprise.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Elizabeth George goes international.

Any additional comments?

I thought long and hard before choosing this book because of the reviewers who characterized Barbara as not acting like Barbara. Having finished the book (and I confess that I turned it off only to sleep - sigh!), I wonder whether we read the same novel. Barbara acted exactly like Barbara would in a cruelly intense situation. If a character behaved in a way that was not true to his nature, it was Barbara's neighbor, the professor. I loved this book because of the twists and turns, Isabel's curious choices at the end of the novel, and because I see that there are new paths available to Ms. George as she creates the next novel.

How Havers Hustled

I can't wait to see how this novel affects the character of Havers in the future.

A great read

What did you love best about Just One Evil Act?

An Inspector Lynley novel is always outstanding, and this one was one exception. My favorite character Havers is deeper in trouble than before, and that's no picnic

just okay

good story but way too long for what it had to say. not the best.

The Misadventures of Barbars Havers

It was good for BH to be the center of the story, at last, but most of the time I did not believe the lengths she went to. It often felt contrived, plus it was a few plot twists too long.
Davina Porter was amazing in her voicing of ALL characters!

Best in a really good series

Hopefully when you read this you know the characters well because that adds to the enjoyment. It’s a wonderful story and my favorite of the whole series!

Disturbingly innacurate pronunciation of Italian dialogue marred performance and enjoyment of the book

I normally find Ms Porter a delightful narrator, but she did not receive adequate coaching in pronunciation of Italian dialogue, of which there was unfortunately a lot. Anyone who knows Italian must grimace at her attempts at accurate pronunciation. It would have been better to have a different narrator, conversant with Italian, to read the dialogue. Otherwise, the book and narration were very good.