I, Richard

by Elizabeth George

Five tales of human weakness from the masterly pen of Elizabeth George, internationally bestselling author.

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Crime, Thriller, British Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Susan Elizabeth George is an American author of mystery novels set in Great Britain. Eleven of her novels, featuring her character Inspector Lynley, have been adapted for television by the BBC as The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

She was born in Warren, Ohio, but moved to the San Francisco Bay Area when she was eighteen months old. She was a student of English, receiving a teaching certificate. While teaching English in the public school system, she completed an advanced degree in psychology.

Her first published novel was A Great Deliverance in 1988, featuring Thomas Lynley, Lord Asherton, a Scotland Yard inspector of noble birth; Barbara Havers, Lynley's assistant, from a very working-class background; Lady Helen Clyde, Lynley's girlfriend and later wife, of noble birth as well; and Lynley's friends Simon and Deborah St. James.

This Elizabeth George is distinct from the other author named Elizabeth George (Christian author).

Series:
* Inspector Lynley

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this reading of five mystery/suspense stories on a recent long drive. They're all right stories, but not terribly memorable. My favorite was a quiet horror story about a lady who collects rats, Good Fences Aren't Always Enough. A couple of them, including the title story, had big build-ups with one-note pay-offs, and if a motive for the murder was given in the first story, I missed it. Still, it was a fun diversion, and well-performed by Derek Jacobi.

[David Dowdy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth George has penned some fine mysteries the most notable of which is the Inspector Lynley series. Here in I, Richard she shares five clever short story mysteries. You’ll be looking for the line that divides real from unreal.

Exposure: Captures in a nutshell the very British style of mystery found in the Lynley series and features the namesake detective. Reminds me of The Jewel That Was Ours by Colin Dexter.

The Surprise of His Life: Jealousy and overthinking brings the end of this story with Niagara force.

Good Fences Aren’t Always Enough: Remember Mending Wall (“good fences make good neighbors”) by Robert Frost? This is a creepy update.

Remember, I’ll Always Love You: Charlie Lawton’s husband is dead, and she has no idea why. She only knows she must contact his estranged parents and give them the news. Hints of a classic film noir movie.

I, Richard: Fans and detractors alike will pay respect to Richard III after reading this historical fiction.

[Moshe Mikanovsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve always loved Elizabeth George’s story telling abilities and this is still true in this collection of shorts. In addition having Derek Jacobi narrating the story is a huge treat!

[AndrewP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elizabeth George has been on my radar for some time with her Inspector Lynley books. Problem was that all of her books are in the 600 page range and I was hesitant to commit to one. Then I found this slim volume containing five short stories.

Only one of the stories featured Inspector Lynley, but the other stories were pretty good too. I was concerned that an American writers perspective of English police procedural may not be authentic, but from what I read she has done her homework. I found George's writing style was very much to my liking so now I feel I am ready to tackle one of her more substantial books.

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I, RICHARD, Elizabeth George
2002, five longish stories/novellas, mostly suspensers although there is one Lynley story. Read on Kindle; four-stars over-all.

"Exposure"
— Lynley visits his irascible auntie's great mansion In The County, at a time when tourists are being entertained. One of them gets murdered in a manner that is blatantly hinted at right from the beginning, which mainly concerns itself with setting the stage of interactions between the members of the tour group. It feels as though Lynley is an afterthought, alas. And the ending/solution was meant to be a strong twist, but falls rather flat. Almost-three-stars.

"The Surprise of His Life"
— Now this is rather better, an almost PI-sort of story about a wealthy older man with a young-and-beautiful wife who may, or may not, be playing around with his younger brother. It's got lots of extraneous threads that ought to confuse but don't, indeed they help to set the scene (ritzy Southern California beachfront properties and the small poor towns around them). Entirely with his first-person viewpoint, it works well, and this meant-to-be-cute, twisted ending, while very predictable, is rather better done than the one in the first story, although for my liking it was far too fast at the end as was the other one, and it was completely predictable, alas.. Atmosphere, et al, was pretty good, and while I was actually reading it I was entertained, but, upon reflection, didn't like it much afterwards. Three-stars.

"Good Fences Aren't Always Enough"
— A very nice neighborhood has a house purchased by a very strange old woman. Interesting take on NIMBY attitudes among upwardly mobile younger couples with families towards an admittedly odd old woman who simply "doesn't fit in" anywhere amongst them. And when she is discovered to have one extremely unusual hobby, well, then the fat's in the fire! What the neighbors do, and how she responds, is beautifully, heart-breakingly depicted, with terrific atmospherics and very good characterizations. And the overall impact of the story is reminiscent of Stephen King. Four-stars.

"Remember, I'll Always Love You"
— A rich suburban Californian wife buries her husband, unexpectedly dead at the age of forty-two in an accident. As she cleans up all the details surrounding this (including legal and financial) she discovers that he was not at all the man she thought he was, nor the man he'd told her he was, nor, possibly, even the man he wanted to be. Not a Witness Protection story btw, but a beautifully filled-out plot with lots of nuances and threads that weave around and in-between each other. A very long story but terrific all the way. Entirely - and beautifully - written from the wife's viewpoint as she goes over their past together, especially the recent past, and tries to figure out just *who* she was married to. And the ramifications and/or consequences of their life together are stunningly told, almost perfectly rendered here. I don't much like George's manner of ending stories - she often just throws out "a good line", perhaps a final twist too, and then "boom!" - end, and it feels far too abrupt. She's written a similar sort of ending here as well, but her twist at the end of this story works much better. It's a truly unexpected zinger, yet makes perfect sense within the story and ties everything up very nicely. Four-and-a-half-stars.

"I, Richard"
— Duplicitous historian woos a woman with A Legacy concerning Richard III (his specialty). Once she's thoroughly under his thumb (she arranges for her lout of a husband to die) he figures he's got it made - she'll give him the legacy (for nothing is too good for him, right??) and he'll be famous - and rich from the sensational book he's writing about Richard III. To finish it off and make it a spectacular success he only needs a bit of proof - "The Perryman Legacy" and the death of her husband, Bernie Perryman, should get it for him, via her. But not so fast.....

Beautifully written novella, only marred by the actual last line, alas. Again, my taste and Ms. George's don't seem to sync - I'd hoped the ending would have a sly and edgy enough twist to complement the long story. It's a good ending, but it's a bit of a let-down, well, at least for me it was. Excellent story, most of it. Four stars.

[_inbetween_]

Her introductions are full of herself; her rewriting of "Evidence Exposed" actually makes less sense (no mention why murder; maybe it's not the son but her "boyfriend" that turned her so crap?) and "Remember" has a huge incongruence re. the time the photos had been bought.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories are not my usual type of read, but these were entertaining.

[Susan Liston · Rating 1 out of 5]

Now I'm reading the Inspector Lynley books right now and enjoying them, so why didn't I like any of these stories, hmm. There is a Lynley story, but I've already forgotten it. I enjoyed the beginning of the story about Richard III, but it was the history I found interesting, the story itself was completely predictable. As was the OJ inspired story, as was the rat story, which I also hated with a passion. Oh what was the other one, about some sort of chemical warfare secret or something, creepy. Nope!

[David]

Five short stories which, as George herself notes in an intro, move faster and resolve more quickly than her usual 600+ page ideas. Each one is clever enough in its own way, and I like the brief notes she makes re the genesis of each. Perhaps precisely because I've been immersed in the 600+-page novels all this year, I found these shorter pieces a little like "diet-whatever": a good taste, but not quite the real thing.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very mixed collection for me. I liked the first story okay, the second and third were not my cup of tea and almost dnfed. But the last and title story was worth pushing through. It even inspired me to look for a full length book by this author. Not bad for just a chance grab at a local little library.

[Elisa Fierro · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful book and what a discovery! I was not familiar with this writer but now she is on my list, definitely. Set in the contemporary world, these stories are truly jewels, treats to savor one at a time. They deal with several different themes and always have a quirk. In "Fences are not enough" an elderly lady is the victim of some nosy and arrogant neighbors - or is she? The protagonist of another story, a jealous husband, gets in the end exactly what he deserves, although at a very high price. My favorite story was the one that gives the title to the collection, "I, Richard." Greed, murder, ambition - 500 years ago and now - make this story gripping from the start, although the end is really not too hard to fathom. Well, I definitely recommend this book (not to children or young readers, though) and am going to plow through all the other works by Elizabeth George.

[Michelle’s Vintage Library · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories themselves were pretty entertaining, and the characters were well drawn in some of them, but I just don’t think this author’s style and tone is for me.

[Hilary Knight · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this book up from a Little Free Library and I'm glad I didn't pay for it. Just managed to get through the first story and the last. The first, "Exposure," was unsatisfying---pat in its characterization and dubious in motive and logistics. [Spoiler alert] Would a young woman really kill a stranger in order to purloin two silver milk jugs, and would these fit into a camera lens, even a macro zoom? Would yew berries actually have time to dry sufficiently (in the time frame given) to be unnoticeable in trail mix even to a fairly dim bulb and to be eaten in sufficient quantity (the consumption is "surreptitious" and apparently minimal) to cause death? And does Elizabeth George really have to include untranslated German, just as she used great swaths of untranslated Italian in whatever-that-bloated-novel-set-in-Italy was? The tactic smacks of smug showing-off.

"I, Richard" is more a summary of the Richard III debate than a mystery; without the long lecture to the elderly Australians on Bosworth Field (and the vulgar description of his "bonking" Betsy) there'd be precious little content. And it was George's attitude to the tourists that really put me off. She's just nastily ageist and sexist: "They may have been freezing their antique pudenda, but at least they were a cooperative group. Save for Sludgecur who, if she had a pudendum, it was no doubt swathed in long underwear." I don't think this is free indirect discourse because her attitude to women, especially their bodies, in other works is similarly contemptuous.

Positively my last attempt at Elizabeth George.

[Anne Hawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book of 5 short stories, all of which are excellent. What I especially enjoyed was to read Elizabeth George’s comments before the stories. In them she tells how she got the idea for the story and some of the processes she goes through to change an idea into a plot. One was a book of her own which she was never happy about and she found a better subject and ending for the short story version.

I think my favorite was “Remember, I’ll Always Love You.” I was completely fooled throughout the whole story and the ending left me amazed at Elizabeth George’s imagination. It would have been a great plot for “The Twilight Zone.” At first, the story seems to be going in an almost overused plot…the husband dies, the wife finds evidence of a secret life and is amazed to find out that the man she was so happy with was not the person she thought he was. While that is true, the ending is anything but trite.

“I, Richard,” while a little more predictable, also has the very satisfying ending that most mystery readers enjoy. Justice is done, but it comes in an unpredictable manner and the reader is left even more satisfied. The characters are well developed for a short story and none is very admirable, so the fact that the plot hinges on Richard III makes it even more ironic.

[Patricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a collection of five short stories. I enjoyed only one of the five, and it was titled Exposure. If you have never read any books in the Inspector Lynley murder mystery series, this is a good one to begin with because it is an introduction to Thomas Lynley of Scotland Yard and his companion Lady Helen Clyde. If you enjoy this story, you will probably enjoy the series.

The other four stories in I, Richard were not my cup of tea. There were no mysteries to solve, and all four stories had endings that dissatisfied me. I will continue to read the Inspector Lynley series but no other books by Elizabeth George.

[Sheila Myers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains five interesting short stories. I read all of them and enjoyed three of the five. I won't be like other reviewers and deduct rating points simply because I don't find the plots or writing style fitting into my preferences. However, with this collection I deducted points because I feel the stories didn't stand up to the promise written on the dust jacket of finding "drama, danger, and unmatched suspense" within the pages. And I also don't see it as belonging "in the library of each and every mystery devotee" as not all of the stories fit into that genre.

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

A collection of short stories. I couldn't even make it through the second one. Partly due to the narrator - there are many American characters, and he can't do an American accent, so he sounded like a moron in trying. But the stories each have a long-winded, pompous introduction, which made it harder to ignore the pompous writing in the stories themselves.

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst set of stories I’ve read in a long time. I kept thinking the next one would be better. So disappointed

[Mentai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok I didn't read very much of this but from the first two pages, it wasn't really for me.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

I very much enjoy Elizbeth George’s long running series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Lynley, so was eager to read this volume of five short stories. They were written at various times between her many other projects, including research for other volumes, teaching responsibilities, media appearances and writing the Lynley novels, which are known for their length and complexity. Although I expected to encounter Thomas Lynley in these stories, I was disappointed, as he only appears in the first one and then just briefly.

The short story format is a difficult literary genre to master and in this case I believe George’s talents are better suited to the novel, where she has proved herself over and over again.

George addresses each story with a short essay on what led her to write the story that follows, which is interesting and something I have not encountered before. In this case though, I did not find it added anything substantial to the tale that followed.

In the first story titled “Exposure”, readers are introduced to a group of students attending summer school and a course on British architecture. A field outing is planned during which the students visit The Abinger Manor, a monument to days gone by, known to reflect every style of architecture known to Great Britain. It also happens that two other tourists, Thomas Lynley and Lady Helen Clyde have also arrived to see the mansion and take the tour. A death occurs while the tour is in progress, which Lynley quickly declares a murder, although readers are provided with little understanding of how he came to that conclusion.

The second story “The Surprise of His Life” is based on the thinly disguised celebrity murder that took place in California in 1995 and OJ Simpson was accused of killing Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. Given George’s introductory essay, readers are well prepared for what will follow, the events announced like a clarion call before the action takes place. There is no mystery about what is to happen, as a man stirred on by a psychic is convinced his trophy wife is having an affair. What readers have been told to expect actually occurs, so there is not much to look forward to as the narrative unfolds.

The third story, “Good Fences Aren’t Always Enough”, explains what happened when an elderly eccentric woman bought a rundown home in an up-and-coming neighborhood, but disappointed her neighbours when she failed to redecorate and clean up the property. A next-door neighbour, concerned about property values, had long hoped her real estate would become more valuable as new people moved into the area and refreshed and redecorated their property. As the elderly woman’s property becomes increasingly run down, rats begin to appear and infest the neighborhood and her next door neighbor decides it is time to take action. Once again, this story had a predictable outcome and readers easily guess how things will turn out.

In “Remember I’ll Always Love You”, George combines the elements of a second marriage, a hidden past, and plans for a happy future to craft a story about a woman who know little of her husband’s past and tries to track down his family to inform them following his death. What makes the story unrealistic is she takes so much action on so many unconfirmed assumptions, that readers cannot believe anyone would proceed as she does.

The final story, “I Richard”, is based on the well-known history of Richard III, the British king who is believed to have murdered his nephews imprisoned in the Tower of London. Once again as the story unfolds, readers encounter a predictable outcome in this story of treachery and deceit, which makes it disappointing.

These stories all have a common theme, an ironic twist which underscores the tale. Although I have been critical of them, it is not to fault George’s writing which is consistently of high quality. However, in terms of plot, she does so much better at the longer novel, where her skills are on display with detailed settings, interesting characters and complex and tangled mysteries the reader can try to unravel. They are so better than these more simple stories that fail to challenge the reader.

[Printable Tire]

I picked up an audio version of this book from the free rack outside a library a couple months ago. They had a million copies, but I guess I should've paid more attention to what was written on each of them because I only had "Part 1," the last disc ended in the middle of a story and I had to then request the library's circulation copy (the length of the billion discs I originally had should have been more than enough, tbh).

These are all "fine" cozy crime-mysteries, if you're driving around and need something that'll use up only a portion of your brain. I don't recall much of the first story, "Exposure," except I was confused when it ended because I hadn't realized I was listening to a collection of short stories yet. Usually the introduction to the stories is the best part, especially in the case of "The Surprise of His Life," which had such a long introduction I thought it was the story. Would that it was because the actual story prattled on and had such an incredibly obvious twist it was used on an episode of the wonderfully sleazy TV show Tales from the Crypt . I thought "Good Fences Aren’t Always Enough" had a perfect ending, until I put the next CD in and realized the story wasn't over at all and continued until it was the proverbial dead horse. The next one, "Remember, I’ll Always Love You" got bizarrely sci-fi at the end. Probably the most successful story is the titular "I, Richard," but I'm afraid I wasn't able to follow most of the Richard III apologia (I find War of the Roses stuff especially confusing for some reason- see my review of The Dragon Waiting for another example).

I guess someone couldn't resist the idea of Derek Jacobi of I, Claudius fame reading the audio version of a book with a (confusingly) similar title. He's a professional and does solid work, of course, though some of his female voices are a bit "farty" sounding.

I rather liked the interview with the author at the end, where she offered up this advice (translated from memory):

To be a successful writer, you must have passion, talent, and discipline. If you only have passion and discipline but no talent, you may still be a successful writer. If you have no passion but have talent and discipline, you might still be a successful writer. If you have no talent or passion, you might still be successful. But you must have discipline.

(I think a dependable keyboard wouldn't hurt either, which is something I'm lacking right now.)

[Toby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a collection of 5 short stories by the author of the Inspector Lynley series (notable because of their consistent tome-like length!). See below for individual ratings.

Exposure: 3/5. A decent start, but I feel like the whodunit wasn’t fully explained (or else I missed it, which is possible as I was tired when I read the story).

The Surprise of His Life: 5/5, that ending though!!

Good Fences Aren’t Always Enough: 4/5. Weird, creepy, and sad.

Remember, I’ll Always Love You: 5/5. Again... the twist, the ending, such tragic perfection!

I, Richard: 3/5 stars. Although the title story, this one was a bit more dull than the others. Probably because I don’t know a lot of English history.

[Morgen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories, one of which includes Lynley and Helen. The others are the more interesting, each with its own Hitchcockian twist, like the man who becomes convinced his young wife is carrying on an affair with his younger brother. He plots and carries out her murder only to have his family leap out and yell "surprise!;" that was the reason she was talking to the brother so often/secretively. Or the history teacher who seduces his friend's wife and gets her to kill her husband so he can gain access to a 500 year old document that will make him famous, only to learn she's sold it to make them rich.

[Giovanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of five thriller stories that weren't bad but that didn't impress me that much. In fact,only two stories really caught my attention, the others were nice but nothing extraordinary.
What I enjoyed the most was to read Elizabeth George's comments where she tells how she got the idea for the story and how she transforms that idea into what will later be the plot of the book. Although I would have preferred to have these little notes at the end of the chapter, not at the beginning, so that they did not anticipate much of the story already.
As for the writing style nothing to say, I liked it. which is why I will be reading the Inspector Lynley's series soon

[Sujie · Rating 4 out of 5]

really enjoyed this collection of short stories by the author of the inspector lynley books. quite different in style than her longer novels--these feel like midcentury fables with a twilight zone-ish twist.

that said, I listened to this via harper audio, and my god. why select a british person to narrate the stories, which largely take place in the US, and almost wholly feature american characters? and why use a british voice actor who can't do american accents? having every character sound like they are a caricature of a 40s mob movie was so incredibly distracting.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw the Inspector Lynley series before I read any of the books and I liked the series, but I loved, loved the books. The first one I read was her most recent book, and it was huge, but I couldn't put it down!
I did enjoy the short stories, but not as much as her full-length books. I especially like the introductions where she talks about how she came to write the stories. Very interesting. I had read The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey a couple of times, so that made I, Richard interesting to me.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories are not my favorite genre; if I stopped and pondered each one maybe I would at least be able to remember them later, but that's just not my style. Still, as short stories go, these are good, although my least favorite was the one with Lynley and Helen at his aunt's manor house. The title story is the best of the lot, with the murderer planning to kill his old friend, but with a satisfying ending.

[Lenora Good · Rating 3 out of 5]

Through the years, I have discovered that some novelists whose books I dislike, also write short stories which I love. Therefore, I was willing to invest the time to read these 5 short and fluffy stories. Alas, Ms. George does not fit into the category of sentence number one, above.

IF, and I strongly emphasize the beginning word, IF you are a fan of Elizabeth George's books, you will probably enjoy these stories. Otherwise, don't waste your time. I was sorely disappointed.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had heard that Elizabeth George was a good mystery writer, and based on the title I chose I, Richard, thinking that it would have something to do with the saga of Richard III, and was disappointed to find that it was a series of five short stories, only one of which referenced Richard III. But the stories were interesting and had surprise endings, which were intriguing. I'll be reading more of her books in the future.

[Corky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not always a fan of the short story (in general) but this book contained five of them that I thought were actually great. They might not be mysteries in the traditional sense, but they're all stories with a certain air of mystery about them and they delve into human nature and the lengths people will go to get what they want (or what they think they want). For me, this was a relatively short read, but I actually had wished it were a tad bit longer.