Characters of all sorts and types, many unpleasant at best, fill the pages of this, the 22nd Inspector Lynley novel. There is a complicated scheme to buy the land or mineral rights in an area of Cornwall to mine lithium. The sleazy agent of the mining company finds the murdered body of Michael Lobb, tin craftsman and major holdout to the plan, and thus begins the search…for the weapon, for the motive, for the truth of the matter that forms the rest of the skillfully built puzzle that makes up the book. Bea Hannaford is in charge of the case (old friend Lynley doesn’t show up until much later) and focuses on Kayla, the the very much younger wife of Michael; his ex-wife; and his grown children as suspects. The story is eerily filled in by Michael himself in chapters interspersed with those on on the investigation. Even though all the alleys, many blind, are followed, it is the tiny pieces and astonishing happenstance that bring everything to a factual, reasonable end, with Lindley of course providing wisdom. After all this time, it’s gratifying to see how the author can take this tangled skein of a story and piece it out to a smooth conclusion.
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