Gentleman detective in the Royal Military Police. Morse's snobbery is intellectual rather than a question of breeding or social advantage. Detective Inspector Lynley is another truly aristocratic member of the Police, being an Earl. Much of the plot of the novels by Elizabeth George revolve around his working relationship with Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, who is of lower-class origins. Both show greater loyalty to each other than to official regulations and accepted attitudes to their relative stations, and both are capable of self-sacrificing actions of "noblesse oblige". Carmen Isabella Sandiego, the "World's Greatest Thief", was originally ACME Crimenet's most intelligent and distinguished
Barbara Havers demotion to detective constable (or DC) and earned her the reputation of being difficult. Their relationship underscores contemporary issues of gender and class. Lynley, the handsome and urbane Eighth Earl of Asherton, has a gilded existence as a member of the nobility, whereas the working class, unattractive and socially inept Havers finds life a struggle. Helping her aging parents is a particular grind. Initially Havers despises all Lynley stands for but she grudgingly comes to accept his innate, bemused decency while recognizing his faults. Eleven of George's Lynley novels have been adapted for television by the BBC as "The Inspector