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Fiction. Literature. Mystery. Thriller. HTML:The setting itself is elemental P. D. James: the bleak coast of East Anglia, where atop a sweep of low cliffs stands the small theological college of St. Anselmâ??s. On the shore not far away, smothered beneath a fall of sand, lies the body of one of the schoolâ??s young ordinands. He is the son of Sir Alred Treves, a hugely successful and flamboyant businessman who is accustomed to getting what he wantsâ??and in this case what he wants is Commander Adam Dalgliesh to investigate his sonâ??s death. Although there seems to be little to investigate, Dalgliesh agrees, largely out of nostal-gia for several happy summers he spent at St. Anselmâ??s as a boy. No sooner does he arrive, however, than the college is torn apart by a sacrilegious and horrifying murder, and Dalgliesh finds himself ineluctably drawn into the labyrinth of an intricate and violent mystery. Here P. D. James once more demonstrates her unrivalled skill in building a classic detective story into a fully realized novel, gripping as much for its psychological and emotional richness as for the originality and complexity of its plottingâ??and, of course, for the horror and suspense at its heart. Filled with unforgettable characters, brilliant in its evocation of the East Anglian scene and the religious background against which the action takes place, Death in Holy Orders again offers proof, if proof were needed, that P. D. James is not only the reigning master of the crime novel but also, simply, one of the finest noveli… (more)
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Of course, there is a bit more to it: this was written in 2001, not 1931, after all. On one level James foregrounds the decay of Anglicanism and all the values it represents: a little pocket of good taste, tolerance and intellectual rigour is threatened and unappreciated by the world: the North Sea and Blair's Cool Britannia are competing to destroy it. On another level, she prevents us from taking anything at face value by a string of literary jokes: practically all the minor characters have names that will send you trawling through the annals of English literature; most of them turn out to have shelves full of detective stories; we get a character who likes to "commune with his pigs", Lord Emsworth style, but acts in ways merely to imagine which would have given that mild-mannered peer a heart attack; the play-scene from Hamlet turns up with an oddly Trollopean twist. You get the idea. A strange mixture of postmodern playfulness with conservative doom and gloom. Oddly captivating, and just the thing for a winter Sunday afternoon with Radio Three playing in the background...
Interesting moment where knitting provides a clue that not all is well with one of the deaths.
(JAB)
What an absolute pleasure to encounter a detective novel featuring multiple murders that actually rises above the level of eighth grade reading and writing! James' prose and application of the English language is a pure joy to read. Felicitously structured sentences abound with words like tenebrous, etiolated, castellated, and peregrinations, while well-formed phrases such as "the smell of spice, fugitive as memory, still lingered...""desultory exchange of platitutes" and "the usual sobriquets" substitute for the usual tired mystery prose. After my husband heartily recommended P.D. James, I resisted; after all, the author is a woman in her eighties! James herself inserts a sly jab at those like me, when her character Emma muses "Why was it, she wondered, so difficult to believe that the old had been young, with the strength and animal beauty of youth, had loved, been loved, laughed and been full of youth's unmeditated optimism?" She caught me. And she taught me well. I am a chastened and converted P.D. James fan now.
(JAF)
Mirfields or St. Stephens? You decide
One reviewer described this book
Set in East Anglia, The weathly father of an about to be ordained student at St. Anselm is not satisfied with the results of the inquest into his son's death--smothered under sand at the crumbling beach cliffs. Adams, who used to spend summers at St. Anselm, and who was to
The bulk of the novel takes place at St. Anselm's, an embattled, isolated theological college on England's windswept East Anglian coast. When the body of seminarian Ronald Treeves is literally unearthed from a
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