A Slowly Dying Cause by Elizabeth George

A Slowly Dying Cause
by Elizabeth George

ISBN-13: 9780593493588
Hardcover: 656 pages
Publisher: Viking
Released: September 23, 2025

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Michael Lobb has just been found dead on the floor of his family’s tin and pewter workshop. It’s suspicious enough that his body was found by a representative of Cornwall EcoMining, a company keen on acquiring his family’s land, and it’s made even worse when he’s revealed to have been the majority owner of the business and the sole obstacle preventing a deal from being made. But it doesn’t take long for Inspector Beatrice Hannaford to unearth details about Michael that point suspicions elsewhere. Like Kayla, a young woman half Michaels’ age, who has just been made a widow.

Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers eventually poke their noses into the crime to search for justice on behalf of a friend.


My Review:
A Slowly Dying Cause is a mystery set in the UK. It's the 22nd book in the series, and, no, you can't really start the series with this book (as I found out). Lynley and Havers were a part of the story from the beginning, with details about their personal struggles (which aren't interesting if you're brand new to the series). However, Lynley didn't get involved in the mystery until the last fourth of the story.

The initial investigation was carried out by other characters, then was sort of dropped while waiting for forensic results, followed by an off-page arrest. Nearly at the end, the lead investigator realized that the obvious suspect was almost too obvious and she hadn't interviewed people that she should have, etc. That's when Lynley came in, helping wrap up the loose ends and determine exactly what had happened. I'd figured out whodunit and why back in the first third of the novel, so I was disappointed that I had to slog through the sex lives of practically every character in the book--none of which I cared about--to learn that I was right.

While there weren't highly detailed sex scenes, people sure thought about sex or had sex a lot. The murdered man rejected his faithful wife for a girl 23 years younger than him, and he only wanted her for the hot sex. The man who found the body lost his job and wife because he was carrying on with one of his young students. The teen boy and girl who found the murder weapon did so while having sex. And we got a detailed backstory on every character, even if they never showed up again. This felt like filler and slowed the pacing. At 656 pages, I'd expected a detailed, complex mystery and got sex, sex, sex. There was also a lot of bad language. Basically, this wasn't my type of mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.