George's absolute best. Though I adored Lynley et al. for years, they had, for me, gotten old and tired by the last outing, and while I'm still fond of them, I was glad that they took a back seat in this one to some fascinating, complex, and beautifully developed characters, particularly Gideon Davies. True, there are flaws in the plot -- I won't give them away; they're fairly obvious -- but on the whole I found myself living in the world of these characters and unable to tear myself away from them and the horror of their past. I read P.D. James's Death in Holy Orders just prior to reading A Traitor to Memory, and found the latter a great deal more satisfying, though I've been a James fan, too, for many years.