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I'm chuffed (happy) that Havers and Lynley are back. Elizabeth George's latest novel, "With No One as Witness," features two of my favorite characters in British police procedurals, Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley and Barbara Havers. Lynley and Havers were partners in earlier books, but Havers has been demoted to Detective Constable and Tommy, who is Acting Superintendent at New Scotland Yard, is now her boss. Lynley and Havers are, on the surface, polar opposites. Tommy is charming, handsome, wealthy, and aristocratic. Although she is a kind and caring person, Barbara comes across as crude, stubborn, and tactless. She chain smokes, dresses in a slovenly manner, and drives an old rattletrap that threatens to break down constantly. However, Barbara and Tommy are alike in one important area. They are both dedicated professionals who care passionately about bringing criminals to justice. This time around, Barbara and Tommy have their work cut out for them. A cunning psychopath has been murdering and mutilating adolescent boys, and there are no witnesses and little evidence to help the police with their inquiries. Lynley is in charge of the investigation, and he has a hard time reining in Barbara Havers. She has an unerring instinct for the chase, and she would much rather go off on her own than follow orders. Worse than Barbara's independent streak is the behavior of Tommy's boss, Assistant Commissioner Hillier. The AC is so sensitive to outside pressure that he sacrifices the integrity of the investigation to gain political points and favorable media coverage. Tommy would gladly throttle Hillier if he could. Elizabeth George's strength is in her characters, particularly Lynley and Havers. George skillfully describes the agonizing lot of homicide detectives, who are under constant stress. They are exposed to the most horrifying aspects of humanity, and the grisly crime scenes that they observe are nightmare-inducing. To make matters worse, the public and the media expect the police to solve high-profile cases quickly. However, as George ably demonstrates, not all cases lend themselves to easy solutions. A detective's job is often tedious, time-consuming, and extremely frustrating. Every lead, no matter how small, must be investigated, and most turn out to be of little or no value. In this lengthy book, Havers and her colleagues put in countless hours examining every clue and interviewing dozens of people, many more than once. George does a fine job of humanizing her detectives and giving us insight into their private lives. Tommy's blissful marriage to Helen is marred by a minor family disagreement. Barbara's involvement with her neighbors, the exuberant and irrepressible eight-year-old Hadiyyah Azhar and her father, Taymullah, bring her both satisfaction and grief. Winston Nkata, who has been promoted to Detective Sergeant because of racial reasons, is angry to be paraded before the public as a token black detective. George effectively shows how a job in law enforcement sometimes damages or destroys personal relationships. The author is less successful in her depiction of a serial killer who is straight out of central casting. He is a ritualistic psychopath who was abused as a child and hears voices in his head berating him as worthless. This plot has been used too many times before. Another flaw is the over-the-top ending that is marred by several far-fetched developments. Still, I admire George's handling of an extremely complex and multi-faceted police investigation, and I always enjoy spending time with Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers.