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Books by
Elizabeth George
A Place of Hiding Excerpt
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Elizabeth George
 Bio
Fast Facts
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Author Bibliography
A Place of Hiding Excerpt
For the last fifteen years, Elizabeth George has been one of America's premiere mystery writers. Leaving her job as a high school teacher to pursue a career in writing, she immediately found success with her first novel, A Great Deliverance, which was the recipient of the Agatha Award, the Anthony Award, and France's Le Grand Prix de Literature Policiere. George has since authored a number of original novels, including Well-Schooled in Murder, which won the German MIMI award for mystery writing.
George's novels are set exclusively in England and feature many recurring characters, including the popular duo of Inspector Thomas Lynley and Sergeant Barbara Havers. Her body of work has been optioned by the BBC, and a four-part miniseries based on her books is set to air on PBS at the end of this month.
To celebrate the release of her latest novel, A Place of Hiding, AuthorsOnTheWeb has chosen Elizabeth George as our Author of the Month. Readers can learn more about George's life and works through fast facts and biographical information, as well as links to her website, bibliography and book reviews.
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Fast Facts
- Though an American by birth, George's novels are exclusively set in England. She first became interested in British culture as a child, coinciding with the invasion of the Beatles in the 1960s, and has since become a student and teacher of English literature.
- Although George writes mystery novels, she very rarely reads them. In order to do research for her work, she often reads true crime stories.
- George's favorite writers include John Irving, John Le Carré, Alice Hoffman, Graham Swift, Penelope Lively, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Jane Austen. Although all have had a profound impact on her work, her greatest influence by far is John Fowles.
- Although she teaches creative writing, George is entirely self-taught.
- George's first novel, A Great Deliverance, featured a close, if tense, partnership between Inspector Thomas Lynley and Sergeant Barbara Havers. The pairing worked so well that the characters continue to be featured in her work to this day.
- George completed A Great Deliverance in less than four weeks.
- PBS's popular Mystery! series will air four episodes from George's "Inspector Lynley" mysteries beginning at the end of this month (August 2003): Well-Schooled in Murder, Payment in Blood, For the Sake of Elena, and Missing Joseph. Mystery! introduced Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers to its audience in August 2002, when they featured two episodes from A Great Deliverance.
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Bio
 Elizabeth George was born in Warren, Ohio and raised in Mountain View, California. As a young child, she attended St. Joseph's Grammar School and, later, Holy Cross High School by the Sisters of the Holy Cross. After beginning her college education at Foothill Community College, she earned her undergraduate degree from the University of California Riverside and her Masters in Counseling/Psychology from California State University at Fullerton. Soon after, she returned to UC Riverside and received her high school teaching degree.
George began her teaching career at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana California, but was fired shortly thereafter --- along with several other teachers --- for her participation in union activities. Although the school was eventually ordered to rehire the teachers, George had already begun her tenure at El Toro High School in El Toro California, where she remained for the next thirteen years.
Her first novel, A Great Deliverance, would become one of her most celebrated works, winning the Anthony Award, the Agatha Award, and the French Le Grand Prix de Literature Policiere. Following this initial success, George decided to leave her career in secondary education behind. Eighteen months later, she returned to teaching at Coastline Community College. Since then she has taught at the University of California at Irvine, the University of British Columbia, the University of Oklahoma, Edinboro University, and annually at the Maui Writers' Retreat.
George's other novels include Payment in Blood, Well-Schooled in Murder, which received the German MIMI award for suspense thrillers in 1990, A Suitable Vengeance, For the Sake of Elena, Missing Joseph, Playing for the Ashes, In the Presence of the Enemy, Deception on His Mind, In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner, A Traitor to Memory, I, Richard, and her most recent work, A Place of Hiding. Her novels have since been optioned by the BBC. Production of A Great Deliverance commenced in September 2000.
George currently lives in Huntington Beach, California, and splits her time between the U.S. and London.
© Copyright 2003, AuthorsOnTheWeb.com. All rights reserved.
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