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I, Richard CD
by Elizabeth George (Reader: Derek Jacobi)
Product Group: Book
Publisher: HarperAudio (2002-11-01)
ISBN: 0060523034
EAN: 9780060523039
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Release Date: 2002-11-05
SKU: BA08050329a
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Exactly as shown, Bought new and listened to once. 7 CDs in excellent condition, inside original case.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Hailed by The New York Times as "a master of the British Mystery," award-winning author Elizabeth George is cherished by readers on both sides of the Atlantic. Her first collection of short stories is an extraordinary offering that deftly explores the lengths to which people will go to get what they want most ... In these five original tales, George plumbs the depths of human nature as only she can. From the chilling tale of a marriage built on an appalling set of lies that only death can reveal, to the title story about a penniless schoolteacher whose ambition turns murderous, I, Richard is filled with page-turning drama and unmatched suspense. Thanks to Inspector Thomas Lynley, a squabbling group of Anglophiles discovers a killer in its midst ... But little help is on hand when a picture-perfect town is shattered by an eccentric new resident's horrifying pet project ... And when a wealthy husband is haunted by suspicions about his much-younger wife, it becomes clear that a man's imagination can be his own worst enemy ... Performed by Derek Jacobi.
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Customer Reviews
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Plot holes and reader disrespect
Rating  (1)
Date: 2007-07-04
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Although I have never read anything by Elizabeth George before, she had come highly recommended to me by my sister when I picked up a copy of this short story collection on my local library's sale shelf. So I gave it a try. Two caveats: I only read two of these stories ("Exposure" and "Remember I'll Always Love You"), because they were so disappointing that I didn't feel like wasting any more of my life on these stories. Also, the following review contains minor and major spoilers, so read no further if that bothers you. (You will be further warned when major spoilers are imminent.) I am sorry for the spoilers, but I feel like misusing spoilers is one of the main faults of these stories. This author seems to revel in keeping back major information from readers for no discernible reason. This information would have come out in any realistic exposition of the story being told, but the author keeps it back. It almost seems she is doing it out of a perverse disrespect for her readers. Therefore, I felt the structure of the stories that I read was weak, as representative of the short-story mystery form.
The above comments refer mainly to the "Remember I'll Always Love You" story, comments on which I will get to below, but with regard to the other one I read, "Exposure," all I could think while reading this tale was, Do I care about these characters? No. So why am I reading this story? Perhaps for those who've read the Thomas Lynley novels, it's enough that he swoops in at the end and solves the pathetic so-called "mystery" that occurs in this story. Like many others have said here, even after the "mystery" is supposedly solved, it makes no sense. Why would anyone murder someone for a couple thousand dollars in hot merchandise that she could probably not even sell? Also (plot hole alert), the murderer eats the poison along with the dead man! How does she escape death? It's all very confusing and would not have even reached the standards of a Nancy Drew story in my childhood. Carolyn Keene would've explained things better.
With regard to the other story I read, "Remember I'll Always Love You," it seemed more promising at first. It had two somewhat likable characters: a young widow and her young friend. Of course, the initial red herring, that the young friend was having an affair with the dead husband, went by the wayside, as an initial red herring should. Perhaps a clever author, however, would have brought that back at the end, as a reverse-reverse to the cliche. Be that as it may, the remainder of the story is one long and winding road of expose after expose of lies that the husband had told, often for no discernible reason essential to the plot, and secrets the husband had kept, from his friends, co-workers and wife, not to mention his ex-wife. It was quite a three-ring circus this guy was apparently running, and none of it really quite makes sense. It's said that liars must be careful to pick and choose their lies; this guy apparently lied about everything.
(From here on forward, major spoilers from this story are revealed.)
Not to mention that the style of exposition is mean-spirited and unfair to the reader. Although we are allowed into the inner thoughts of the protagonist, as she thinks about her husband's death, the only thing she seems to remember are his last words, not the fact that he blew his head off in front of her! It's ludicrous and totally unbelievable that someone who witnessed that would be more curious about why he said what he said than why he did what he did. Not until the 55th page of this 58-page story do we even find out that the husband killed himself, much less the brutal and horrific way in which he did it, right in front of his wife. Only in *that* context are the words he spoke a bit bizarre (although not unheard-of; many suicides think they are doing their family a favor by removing their sorry selves from their lives). The tone is all wrong; the feelings of the protagonist are unbelievable; and the presentation is unfair to the reader, and frankly, just plain silly. No one reacts like this or thinks like this, not in the world I live in. Just think about it; if someone you loved shot their head off in front of you, would you go calmly driving around (with the flu, no less) to antique sops to investigate their background? Heck no! I'd be a basket case for at least three months! (At least!)
Like I say, I haven't read any other books of hers, but apparently most of her novels take place in England. It seems like she tried (at least in this story) to put the soul of a bloodless detective into the body of a young, traumatized widow, investigating the secret life of her deceased husband. It just doesn't work.
I also was also offended by the stupidity of this story's ending. First off, the woman takes one person's word for the fact that there is no cure for the virus that infects her, and immediately decides to off herself, and in the most brutal, messy way imaginable, a way that will be a nightmare for the biological police to clean up. Well, I can accept that she might be suicidal, but it's not presented realistically by the author. Maybe we are supposed to take her as an unreliable narrator at this point. OK, if that's all there was to object to, I could accept that.
However, then she is accosted by one of the representatives of the terrorist criminal network that purchased the biological agent, and who now wants what they paid for. She goes meekly along with him and says, "I'm only too happy to give it to [him]" because he "could do no more to her" than the virus already had. Excuse me? So apparently, she's no better or more moral than her husband's secrets have revealed him to be. She doesn't care if this thug takes a blood sample from her, or whatever, and unleashes the virus on unsuspecting, innocent civilians? (How he was going to take the virus from her body is not made at all clear either; another of the many plot holes in this story.)
Amazingly, she also seems to think that this thug will "be willing to give her the time that writing the letter required" - the "letter" being an expose and warning to the police about handling her body. How ridiculous! (Are we again in the territory of the "unreliable narrator"? That would be an easy out!) I'm pretty sure the criminals would not allow their own exposure, and even if they played along and let her write such a "letter," they would destroy it after they killed her. I get that she was ready to die. But her approach to death takes away any sympathy I might have developed toward the character during the rest of the story. It was a totally unbelievable ending that made me wonder why I even bothered reading the story.
It must be very difficult to write a mystery story. I have never tried. It must be hard to reveal some things while keeping other things hidden. Ms. George's technique in this story seems to be to reveal nothing that a character would normally reveal in their inner thoughts, just to tantalize the reader and make it more confusing and difficult for the reader to discover the answer to the mystery, as well as to allow maximum leeway to the author to "shock" the reader at the end. That's not a fair way to treat the reader. Yes, telling us the husband had committed suicide would reveal a key to the mystery, but not the final key. I think Ms. George could've found a way to reveal that sooner. It seems merely perverse, to this reader at least, that she didn't reveal that major part of the story in the first few pages.
I must add, too, that I am amazed at how blandly positive the reviews by the Library Journal and Publishers Weekly were. PW says that "the brooding, gloomy dust jacket suggests gothic themes, but the tales are thoroughly modern in setting and subject." What a cop-out! The tales are modern in setting, yes, but how hard is that to achieve? Just set them in modern-day England or LA. But compared to the gothic tales I've read, they are more convoluted and unbelievable, and with much worse character development. My sister says George's novels are great. Apparently, the "MYSTERY!" series agrees, so perhaps someday I'll try reading one of them, but these stories were not good advertising.
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Ignore stars...Not yet read but I do have something to say...................
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-01-09
1 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
There is nothing convuluded or long winded about Elizabeth George. What a wonderful writer/story teller. I love reading her books. I know I won't have it finished in 3 hours. Ms. George you have kept me sane and very much entertained since I first read Traitor to Memory and proceeded to search Amazon and every other book club for all your Lynley/Havers novels so that I could start at the beginning. Didn't succeed but almost did! I think I read #5 before #4. I now only have What came before he shot her left to read and I dread reading it..........I find myself not wanting to come to the end. Thank you for your wonderful gift and sharing it with the world. Your books are awesome.
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Not today
Rating (1)
Date: 2006-08-27
1 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
Five crime stories. I read the first. Damn, ain't no way to solve the thing until you read the last page, and I waded through all kinds of cardboard cutouts and cliches to get there. I quit reading.
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Elizabeth George in Shorts
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-03-15
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
Elizabeth George in Shorts is just as suspensful and whimsical as she is doing the long novel. Normally, I don't read short stories but decided to do so after finishing all of the Inspector Lynley books. I definitely was not disappointed. This lady comes with a great sense of humour in addition to her other sterling literary attributes. All the stories were suspensful right up to the final unexpected endings. I, Richard, the last of the stories, transforms history into modern day life. Both sad and amusing.
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Ironies Tied Up in Little Mysteries
Rating  (3)
Date: 2005-07-13
3 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
Short stories that contain mysteries are a challenge. You cannot do much character development, add many plot details nor use extensive red herrings.
Ms. George's writing holds up surprisingly well in this format considering that she normally pens novels that run 500-600 pages. The charm of her work is that she loves ironies, and provides us with some delicious ones.
In Exposure, Thomas Lynley and Lady Helen are visiting Lynley's aunt while some of the heritage silver is pinched by a tour group. A man dies in the process. Can Lynley sort out the crime before this turns into an even bigger problem?
In The Surprise of His Life, a middle-aged man finds himself having ED problems and grows concerned that his young wife is obtaining satisfaction elsewhere. He becomes obsessed with stopping this cuckolding . . . with unexpected results.
Good Fences Aren't Enough is a sad commentary on how we can become accustomed to anything . . . and actually seek out the perverse. A new neighbor moves in and doesn't keep up the property values. Her neighbors decide to do something about it and get more than they bargained for.
Remember, I'll Always Love You reminds of the best of O'Henry's short stories. Just before he dies, a husband shares that wonderful sentiment with his wife. Only with time can she put the comment into its proper context.
I, Richard is the opposite of the last story . . . about getting a gift that you didn't want but that someone else would assume that you did. It has a wonderful background in historical references to Richard III that will appeal to those who enjoyed The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.
The weakness of the stories is that the irony is usually too easy to anticipate. For that reason, Remember, I'll Always Love You works best . . . because the irony is better disguised.
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