I was exposed to the Lynley series through the PBS series and was enchanted by its presentation. I decided to read the novel prior to viewing this program. This appears to have been a grave mistake. Elizabeth George's work is so thorough and rich. She builds the characters and their backgrounds with great care. This particular episode pales in comparison. Some of the casting is weak, especially the supporting cast. There appears to be little time spent (this was a bleak 90 minute episode, compared to Adam Dalgleish that go on for TWO 90 minute epys) on building these supporting characters so one could drink in their essences.
If the objective of this series is to 'replace' Inspector Morse, then it fails tremendously. The superficial approach in the main characters and their interfaces not only with each other but their paramours/friends, will keep this series from ever being at the level of the Morse series. It is a pale imitation, in my opinion. This could have been on the level of Morse (the novels indicate that this is so), but it falls short by hundreds of miles.
The fact that this particular episode deviates significantly from the main plot of the novel for the sake of cutting corners was quite disappointing. Why rush the production and skip over key points that form the characters? Other BBC productions have taken out the time, why not this one? The main characters are portrayed by good actors however; the secondary characters are weak and need beefing up.