Call number
MYST JAM
Collection
Genres
Series
Publication
Knopf (2008), Edition: 1, 352 pages
Description
Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate a murder at a private nursing home for rich patients being treated by the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell.
Subjects
Media reviews
Somewhere along the way to its denouement “The Private Patient” loses both track of and interest in its title character. Rhoda Gradwyn’s past is of great interest to some of the book’s characters but not to the reader.
User reviews
LibraryThing member the.ken.petersen
There are signs that this may be the last Adam Dalgliesh mystery: rumours of the squad's demise, and doubts amongst the team are peppered throughout this book. I enjoyed the read but, can see that there is only so far that this series can go; and it may have reached its natural conclusion.
As with
This is so clichéd that, in the hands of a less skilled writer, it would have become poor fare. P D James manages to retain the interest and, although the murderer becomes obvious before the end, James keeps an ace up her sleeve for the last few pages.
The book does exactly what one expects of a good whodunnit; it is an unputdownable read. Thank you Commander Dalgliesh, I have enjoyed following your career.
As with
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most of the stories in the collection, this tale begins with a hundred plus pages building an air of foreboding. The scene is a well to do private clinic set in the countryside and the characters, who seemingly have everything going for them, all carry dark secrets. It is a closed community and so, inevitably, each person knows something of the other characters' hidden past but nobody knows it all. An investigative journalist books in for an operation to remove a scar and the underlying enmities lead to deadly circumstances. This is so clichéd that, in the hands of a less skilled writer, it would have become poor fare. P D James manages to retain the interest and, although the murderer becomes obvious before the end, James keeps an ace up her sleeve for the last few pages.
The book does exactly what one expects of a good whodunnit; it is an unputdownable read. Thank you Commander Dalgliesh, I have enjoyed following your career.
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LibraryThing member nbmars
P.D. James is an amazing writer. This book, published in her 88th year, shows no diminution in quality from her previous books, and gives lie to those who question the prowess of senior citizens. And what a pleasure generally to read a murder mystery that rises above the level of eighth grade
This book is a continuation of the Adam Dalgliesh mystery series, although like the others, it stands alone quite well.
Dalgliesh (or AD as he is known to his subordinates) is a Commander in London's Scotland Yard (i.e., the Metropolitan Police Service). He and his team are only called in for “important” or “politically sensitive” murders, although AD denies that - in his own estimation at least - any murder victim is ever unimportant.
AD is a private person with a poetic soul who inspires admiration, awe and respect from his crew, which includes Detective Inspector Kate Miskin and Detective Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith. He endeavors to keep his private and professional lives separate, and is largely successful in doing so. He is aware Miskin has always loved him, but they never discuss it; in fact, he is soon to be married to Emma Lavenham, a lecturer in literature at Cambridge.
But even while meeting with his future father-in-law to inform him he wants to marry Emma, he is called away on a case. Rhoda Gradwyn, just after receiving plastic surgery on a facial scar in a posh private facility located in an old Tudor manor house, has been murdered. As in other mysteries by James, there are only a limited number of suspects, and most of them have a motive.
James adds depth to her mysteries with thought-provoking meditations not often encountered in this genre. For example, before her surgery, as Rhoda gazes out her window, James writes:
"Time had fascinated her from childhood, its apparent power to move at different speeds, the dissolution it wrought on minds and bodies, her sense that each moment, all moments past and those to come, were fused into an illusory present which with every breath became the unalterable, indestructible past.”
Or this, as one of the characters, while in a chapel, gazes at the cross:
"Under this symbol battles had been fought, the great seismic upheavals of State and Church had changed the face of Europe, men and women had been tortured, burnt and murdered. It had been carried with its message of love and forgiveness into the darkest hells of human imagining.”
These are sentiments you don’t ordinarily encounter in mysteries, even cozies, and it is this elevation from the usual tired mystery prose for which James is so valued. Otherwise, she doesn’t toy with her formula, which includes lingering loving descriptions of homes and land; insightful glances into the minds of the characters; and the acute observations of the principals on the eternal verities that confront them with every death.
It is not until the end of the book that James diverges a bit from her usual modus operandi to wrap up series elements with a flourish of optimism and paean to love. One might guess that she fears this could be her last opportunity to do so. In any event, she ends with a contemplation of life and death that reconciles the tragedy of the many criminal acts in the world with the only path she deems to offer redemption:
"Deeds of horror are committed every minute and in the end those we love die. If the screams of all earth’s living creatures were one scream of pain, surely it would shake the stars. But we have love. It may seem a frail defence against the horrors of the world but we must hold fast and believe in it, for it is all we have."
Evaluation: James’ facility with the English language is a joy to read. If her mysteries don’t have that urgency of some that keeps you up all night turning the pages, it is all for the best; she is author best savored in small amounts, so you can turn her phrases over and let the flavor of their sentiments blend in your mind. The whole Metropolitan Police Department team is most likeable, and are people with whom you enjoy spending time.
Listing of Adam Dalgliesh Murder Mystery Series in Order:
Cover Her Face by P.D. James
A Mind to Murder by P.D. James
Unnatural Causes by P.D. James
Shroud for a Nightingale by P. D. James
The Black Tower by P. D. James
Death of an Expert Witness by P. D. James
A Taste for Death by P. D. James
Devices and Desires by P. D. James
Original Sin by P. D. James
A Certain Justice by P. D. James
Death in Holy Orders by P. D. James
The Murder Room by P. D. James
The Lighthouse by P. D. James
The Private Patient by P. D. James
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reading and writing! This book is a continuation of the Adam Dalgliesh mystery series, although like the others, it stands alone quite well.
Dalgliesh (or AD as he is known to his subordinates) is a Commander in London's Scotland Yard (i.e., the Metropolitan Police Service). He and his team are only called in for “important” or “politically sensitive” murders, although AD denies that - in his own estimation at least - any murder victim is ever unimportant.
AD is a private person with a poetic soul who inspires admiration, awe and respect from his crew, which includes Detective Inspector Kate Miskin and Detective Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith. He endeavors to keep his private and professional lives separate, and is largely successful in doing so. He is aware Miskin has always loved him, but they never discuss it; in fact, he is soon to be married to Emma Lavenham, a lecturer in literature at Cambridge.
But even while meeting with his future father-in-law to inform him he wants to marry Emma, he is called away on a case. Rhoda Gradwyn, just after receiving plastic surgery on a facial scar in a posh private facility located in an old Tudor manor house, has been murdered. As in other mysteries by James, there are only a limited number of suspects, and most of them have a motive.
James adds depth to her mysteries with thought-provoking meditations not often encountered in this genre. For example, before her surgery, as Rhoda gazes out her window, James writes:
"Time had fascinated her from childhood, its apparent power to move at different speeds, the dissolution it wrought on minds and bodies, her sense that each moment, all moments past and those to come, were fused into an illusory present which with every breath became the unalterable, indestructible past.”
Or this, as one of the characters, while in a chapel, gazes at the cross:
"Under this symbol battles had been fought, the great seismic upheavals of State and Church had changed the face of Europe, men and women had been tortured, burnt and murdered. It had been carried with its message of love and forgiveness into the darkest hells of human imagining.”
These are sentiments you don’t ordinarily encounter in mysteries, even cozies, and it is this elevation from the usual tired mystery prose for which James is so valued. Otherwise, she doesn’t toy with her formula, which includes lingering loving descriptions of homes and land; insightful glances into the minds of the characters; and the acute observations of the principals on the eternal verities that confront them with every death.
It is not until the end of the book that James diverges a bit from her usual modus operandi to wrap up series elements with a flourish of optimism and paean to love. One might guess that she fears this could be her last opportunity to do so. In any event, she ends with a contemplation of life and death that reconciles the tragedy of the many criminal acts in the world with the only path she deems to offer redemption:
"Deeds of horror are committed every minute and in the end those we love die. If the screams of all earth’s living creatures were one scream of pain, surely it would shake the stars. But we have love. It may seem a frail defence against the horrors of the world but we must hold fast and believe in it, for it is all we have."
Evaluation: James’ facility with the English language is a joy to read. If her mysteries don’t have that urgency of some that keeps you up all night turning the pages, it is all for the best; she is author best savored in small amounts, so you can turn her phrases over and let the flavor of their sentiments blend in your mind. The whole Metropolitan Police Department team is most likeable, and are people with whom you enjoy spending time.
Listing of Adam Dalgliesh Murder Mystery Series in Order:
Cover Her Face by P.D. James
A Mind to Murder by P.D. James
Unnatural Causes by P.D. James
Shroud for a Nightingale by P. D. James
The Black Tower by P. D. James
Death of an Expert Witness by P. D. James
A Taste for Death by P. D. James
Devices and Desires by P. D. James
Original Sin by P. D. James
A Certain Justice by P. D. James
Death in Holy Orders by P. D. James
The Murder Room by P. D. James
The Lighthouse by P. D. James
The Private Patient by P. D. James
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LibraryThing member nawatramani
I have been an avid fan of P. D. James's Commander Adam Dalgliesh series but her latest offering left me feeling vaguely unsatisfied. The interplay of characters is interesting yet there is a "let's tie up the loose ends and clean up before we close shop" feel to the book. There is a passage in the
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book describing the team's departure from Chevrell manor at the end of the investigation and I could help thinking how aptly it described the whole tone of the book. If this is to be Commander Dalgliesh's swan song, then I feel the author has not done him or her readers justice. Show Less
LibraryThing member katylit
The latest murder mystery by P.D. James. This one takes place in a private plastic surgery clinic which is also a Tudor manor house, set in the Dorset countryside. The story contains all the classic P.D. James appeal, wonderful use of language, amazing vocabulary, good character development.
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Wonderful to visit with Commander Adam Dalgliesh again. Show Less
LibraryThing member bhowell
This is P. D. James and an absolutely great thriller. I won't discuss the plot as others have done that but wanted to make one comment about the evolution of her character, Adam Dagliesh. Years ago I saw an interview with P. D. James where she discussed the absence of any active love interest or
Given Ms James' age, there is of course speculation that this might be her last book though it may be unwise to underestimate her energy and talent. I did notice however that in this book she marries Adam off to the lovely, highly educated, but immature and much younger Emma. Since Emma was a drama queen and a royal pain in this ass in my view, she might not be a welcome character in a later novel. Perhaps after all, Ms James has rewarded her steadfast character with some personal happiness as she bides him goodbye. And Ms James does not write love stories but gives us taut thrillers which are as close to perfect as they could be. I personally have read every P.D. James book as it came off the press and if this is her last book, I will sorely miss her.
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wife for Adam Dagliesh. She was of the view that it would have interfered with the plot and plot is everything as her readers well know. All of her stories are carefully planned and she did not want the distraction of always having to involve his domestic life. She was not writing love stories. Given Ms James' age, there is of course speculation that this might be her last book though it may be unwise to underestimate her energy and talent. I did notice however that in this book she marries Adam off to the lovely, highly educated, but immature and much younger Emma. Since Emma was a drama queen and a royal pain in this ass in my view, she might not be a welcome character in a later novel. Perhaps after all, Ms James has rewarded her steadfast character with some personal happiness as she bides him goodbye. And Ms James does not write love stories but gives us taut thrillers which are as close to perfect as they could be. I personally have read every P.D. James book as it came off the press and if this is her last book, I will sorely miss her.
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LibraryThing member owenre
Reading the Private Patient is like eating at your grandmother's house. There will be no unexpected foods, the dinner will be so very comforting, your grandmother would have been painstakingly careful to make the ravioli or pie crust or fried chicken or whatever perfectly, and you will enjoy it.
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However, it will be dated and not exciting. So it is with the Private Patient. I love PD James. She is one of the great names in the mystery genre and Dalgleish has been one of my ideal characters. PD James plots perfectly, perhaps a bit to carefully here, and the supporting characters are lovingly considered, if a bit formulaic. The Private Patient has no surprises and the craft is so very evident. It is so matter of fact that it is a bit dull. However, I stayed up all night to read it, so I can recommend it if you want a comforting, perfectly laid out murder mystery of a classic sort. Show Less
LibraryThing member Romonko
This is a book that should be savoured for a number of reasons. The first is that P.D. James has lost none of her talent for writing a novel that grips and holds you. Also, the book is more than just a little mystery story. There is a whole lot more here than that. It's a book that held me in its
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thrall right until the end. Of course we have Adam Dalgliesh, and we have his team (Kate and Benton). We also have an intriguing mystery when a private patient in a country clinic is found dead in her room. Adam and his team travel to Dorset to try to solve the murder. The book is complex and the murder is also. And last, but not least, there is a possibility that this may be the last Adam Dalgliesh book. Ms. James has certainly approached this issue throughout the book. I will be sad if that is so, but it is a wonderful way to end a brilliant creation! Ms. James is a wonderful author, and I truly revelled in this book. I put it down with a real sense of sadness, but I think it is a book that should be read more than once. A second and third reading may be in order in order that all the rich nuances can be grasped. I have to say, that although it is only the middle of October, I think this is the most significant book of fiction that I will read in 2008. Show Less
LibraryThing member mrtall
I rarely feel protective when I review a book. That is, in nearly every circumstance I believe a good book's worth need not be boosted or sheltered by a reviewer's rationalizations about the author's good intentions, or special (but as yet widely unrecognized) gifts, or by any other extenuating
But here is my exception. P D James's The Private Patient is a lovely book, but it is not for everyone. Only those who have followed James on at least some steps of her journey from conventional cozies to some of the best crime fiction ever written (e.g. A Taste for Death) and on into the gently dimmed glow of her later works will really appreciate this elegiac -- indeed, perhaps benedictory -- installment in her long-running Dalgliesh series.
The story here is simple: a hard-nosed, battle-scarred investigative reporter comes to an exclusive private clinic for plastic surgery; the operation is a success, but her recovery certainly isn't. The suspects comprise a typical James collection: middle-aged women in uncertain and vaguely unsuitable circumstances; a slip of a girl with a cloudy past; a strong, almost tyrannical, surgeon at the clinic's head; pretty but dissolute young men; and one wild card character, who here is bifurcated into a husband/wife team of chefs.
Speaking of food, faithful James readers will be amused at the quantities of herb omelette and hot soup our characters knock back. James's fascination with the minutiae of food, household decoration and other home comforts suffuse this book -- not unusually, I suppose, for an author who's 90.
This mild indulgence in long-standing tropes is just one of the reasons -- another is the book's ending, which I shall not even hint at here -- that The Private Patient should be read as a closing chapter in a much longer story.
Highly recommended.
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influence. But here is my exception. P D James's The Private Patient is a lovely book, but it is not for everyone. Only those who have followed James on at least some steps of her journey from conventional cozies to some of the best crime fiction ever written (e.g. A Taste for Death) and on into the gently dimmed glow of her later works will really appreciate this elegiac -- indeed, perhaps benedictory -- installment in her long-running Dalgliesh series.
The story here is simple: a hard-nosed, battle-scarred investigative reporter comes to an exclusive private clinic for plastic surgery; the operation is a success, but her recovery certainly isn't. The suspects comprise a typical James collection: middle-aged women in uncertain and vaguely unsuitable circumstances; a slip of a girl with a cloudy past; a strong, almost tyrannical, surgeon at the clinic's head; pretty but dissolute young men; and one wild card character, who here is bifurcated into a husband/wife team of chefs.
Speaking of food, faithful James readers will be amused at the quantities of herb omelette and hot soup our characters knock back. James's fascination with the minutiae of food, household decoration and other home comforts suffuse this book -- not unusually, I suppose, for an author who's 90.
This mild indulgence in long-standing tropes is just one of the reasons -- another is the book's ending, which I shall not even hint at here -- that The Private Patient should be read as a closing chapter in a much longer story.
Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member aardvark2
P.D. James is nearing 90, and has lost NOTHING with age. Her latest novel is another brilliantly written mystery surrounding a murder in a private clinic for plastic surgery. Numerous suspects and several possible motives keep detective Adam Dalgliesh and his team busy. All of the characters are
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complex, including the police team, whose personal lives continue to unfold and evolve from book to book and provide subplots. Another winner from the author. Show Less
LibraryThing member horacewimsey
At least as good as the last P.D. James I read; but not quite as good as the first. I'm told that cocaine addicts are always after the feeling of the first high. Not to be flippant, but I might say the same thing about P.D. James.
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
As much as I love P.D. James’s body of work, I feel that her style is too dated. Fans will now pummel me with stones. It’s true though. She’s officially a “cozy” mystery writer. Her language while creative and sometimes beautiful does not check up with how people speak and think in 2009.
While reading this one I found myself annoyed with Adam almost every time he opened his mouth. Must he always preach in that condescending way? If he has he so little faith in his minions, why doesn’t he hire some that don’t have to be led around like children? After all the years with Kate, he thinks she does a good job, but he doesn’t treat her that way. Her hero-worship and pining are kept in check though, thankfully. And the gooey, overly chaste and proper relationship with Emma is really unpleasant. Again, so dated as to be laughable. The scene where she drives her ex-lover’s car to meet him to tell him of a friend’s rape is a perfect example. He coddles her, is a tentative school-boy afraid to ask her what the hell she wants. She’s such a ninny that she can’t articulate anything in the flood of her emotions. And then he offers to sleep on the couch. The couch. It’s clear they’ve been to bed, why this sudden prudishness? Oy vey.
Also there was a lot less police procedural detail in this one than in the past. Back in the day, we’d get a lot of information about how multiple resources come together under Dalgliesh’s direction to move a case forward to a collar. Forensics, footwork, deduction; it all played a part. These days, things seem to only come from interviews and the end of day wine and cheese wrap up parties Dalgliesh throws for Benton and Miskin. Perhaps James isn’t as familiar with today’s techniques as she was of yesteryears’, but that just means she needs to hire a decent researcher. Surely she can afford one.
I don’t like feeling this way. It came up on me while reading the last one, The Lighthouse. In that one almost nothing happened. The mystery sort of folded in on itself and took very little in the way of investigation to solve. Mostly everyone was either running from place to place in the rain or holed up being deathly ill.
Plot-wise The Private Patient didn’t diverge from the usual course. Rhoda, our none-too-likeable victim is killed and we’re presented with a closed group of suspects in the immediate area. One or two stand out as particularly likely, but I know from past experience it won’t be one of these. The characters are pretty much her stock in trade. Grandstanding. Aloof. Condescending. Uncooperative. Hostile. Secretive. Hidebound. Neurotic. Sheltered. Opinionated. No one is allowed to be easy going, polite, helpful or well-adjusted. It’s kind of funny and I enjoy reading about these backward freaks and the strange ways they cope with James’s reality.
Maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but the ending seemed sloppy to me. The second killing (there is always a second killing) wasn’t wholly explained and it seemed that Dalgliesh was OK with that despite voicing doubts about the killer’s confession. And what a confession it was. Highly melodramatic and blood-soaked.
Ah, Dame James. I love you, but I think had you decided in the 80s to stay current, your work would have been more thrilling and unpredictable and have greater staying power.
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It’s really too bad she couldn’t adapt because I think that would shake things up and make them much more interesting. But I guess she chose her path decades ago and it’s one that works for her. While reading this one I found myself annoyed with Adam almost every time he opened his mouth. Must he always preach in that condescending way? If he has he so little faith in his minions, why doesn’t he hire some that don’t have to be led around like children? After all the years with Kate, he thinks she does a good job, but he doesn’t treat her that way. Her hero-worship and pining are kept in check though, thankfully. And the gooey, overly chaste and proper relationship with Emma is really unpleasant. Again, so dated as to be laughable. The scene where she drives her ex-lover’s car to meet him to tell him of a friend’s rape is a perfect example. He coddles her, is a tentative school-boy afraid to ask her what the hell she wants. She’s such a ninny that she can’t articulate anything in the flood of her emotions. And then he offers to sleep on the couch. The couch. It’s clear they’ve been to bed, why this sudden prudishness? Oy vey.
Also there was a lot less police procedural detail in this one than in the past. Back in the day, we’d get a lot of information about how multiple resources come together under Dalgliesh’s direction to move a case forward to a collar. Forensics, footwork, deduction; it all played a part. These days, things seem to only come from interviews and the end of day wine and cheese wrap up parties Dalgliesh throws for Benton and Miskin. Perhaps James isn’t as familiar with today’s techniques as she was of yesteryears’, but that just means she needs to hire a decent researcher. Surely she can afford one.
I don’t like feeling this way. It came up on me while reading the last one, The Lighthouse. In that one almost nothing happened. The mystery sort of folded in on itself and took very little in the way of investigation to solve. Mostly everyone was either running from place to place in the rain or holed up being deathly ill.
Plot-wise The Private Patient didn’t diverge from the usual course. Rhoda, our none-too-likeable victim is killed and we’re presented with a closed group of suspects in the immediate area. One or two stand out as particularly likely, but I know from past experience it won’t be one of these. The characters are pretty much her stock in trade. Grandstanding. Aloof. Condescending. Uncooperative. Hostile. Secretive. Hidebound. Neurotic. Sheltered. Opinionated. No one is allowed to be easy going, polite, helpful or well-adjusted. It’s kind of funny and I enjoy reading about these backward freaks and the strange ways they cope with James’s reality.
Maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but the ending seemed sloppy to me. The second killing (there is always a second killing) wasn’t wholly explained and it seemed that Dalgliesh was OK with that despite voicing doubts about the killer’s confession. And what a confession it was. Highly melodramatic and blood-soaked.
Ah, Dame James. I love you, but I think had you decided in the 80s to stay current, your work would have been more thrilling and unpredictable and have greater staying power.
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LibraryThing member smik
We know right from the start of this novel that 47 year old Rhoda Gradwyn is only 23 days away from being murdered. She has decided to have a leading plastic surgeon remove a disfiguring facial scar that she has had for over 30 years. She goes to the surgeon's private clinic at Cheverell Manor in
This is an Adam Dalgleish book and James' fans have been waiting since the publication of THE LIGHTHOUSE in 2005 for the next. We are reminded of that book several times by the investigative team. THE LIGHTHOUSE was a variant on the closed room mystery: an island cut off from the mainland by bad weather with seemingly no-one coming and going, so the murderer had to be on the island. (see my mini-review: my rating was 5.0)
What we have in THE PRIVATE PATIENT it seems is a variant of the same sort of scenario, only this time using an English country house as the backdrop. Cheverell Manor isn't quite as isolated as Combe Island was, but the list of possible perpetrators is limited. Many in the cast of characters have secrets to hide, the Manor itself was locked at the pertinent times, but there is a local legend about the nearby standing stones, just to complicate things.
The thing that struck me most about THE PRIVATE PATIENT is how thoroughly it was plotted. I found it slow reading but I didn't grudge the time. P. D. James takes care of all her characters. Adam Dalgliesh is on the brink of marriage, and it seems that he is also on the cusp of a career change, with every likelihood that his Murder Squad will be redeployed after this case is finalised. Kate Miskin is due for promotion in the very near future, very likely to head her own team. James explores not only the relationships between the residents of Cheverell Manor, but also the way in which the members of Dalgliesh's team work together.
So, yes, THE PRIVATE PATIENT is a very satisfying read, P.D. James still among the best.
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Dorset to have the operation. The operation is a success, but only hours later Rhoda Gradwyn is dead, throttled.This is an Adam Dalgleish book and James' fans have been waiting since the publication of THE LIGHTHOUSE in 2005 for the next. We are reminded of that book several times by the investigative team. THE LIGHTHOUSE was a variant on the closed room mystery: an island cut off from the mainland by bad weather with seemingly no-one coming and going, so the murderer had to be on the island. (see my mini-review: my rating was 5.0)
What we have in THE PRIVATE PATIENT it seems is a variant of the same sort of scenario, only this time using an English country house as the backdrop. Cheverell Manor isn't quite as isolated as Combe Island was, but the list of possible perpetrators is limited. Many in the cast of characters have secrets to hide, the Manor itself was locked at the pertinent times, but there is a local legend about the nearby standing stones, just to complicate things.
The thing that struck me most about THE PRIVATE PATIENT is how thoroughly it was plotted. I found it slow reading but I didn't grudge the time. P. D. James takes care of all her characters. Adam Dalgliesh is on the brink of marriage, and it seems that he is also on the cusp of a career change, with every likelihood that his Murder Squad will be redeployed after this case is finalised. Kate Miskin is due for promotion in the very near future, very likely to head her own team. James explores not only the relationships between the residents of Cheverell Manor, but also the way in which the members of Dalgliesh's team work together.
So, yes, THE PRIVATE PATIENT is a very satisfying read, P.D. James still among the best.
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LibraryThing member refashionista
Always reliable, P. D. James does not disappoint with her latest Adam Dagleish mystery. What starts out as a routine cosmetic surgery and recuperation in the country goes very wrong very quickly, and our favorite guy is on the job to figure it out. It's a whodunnit that kept me guessing until the
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end! Show Less
LibraryThing member AnneliM
Another Adam Dalgliesch mystery--still elegantly written, although perhaps a bit less exciting. Worth reading, anyway
LibraryThing member marient
Another Adam Dalgliesh murder mystery featuring Rhoda Gradwyn She is murdered and therein lieth the tale.
LibraryThing member Dessss
I didn't get on with this book, the first PD James I have read
LibraryThing member Kathy89
Interesting premise but it took forever to get the case solved. Too many characters and too much description of their lives. Woman enters a private clinic to have a scar from childhood removed because she was 'no longer in need of it.' Needless to say she's murdered. Listened to audiobook, wouldn't
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have bothered to finish reading the hard copy. Show Less
LibraryThing member DowntownLibrarian
I started out listening to the audiobook, which was superb. Makes one realize what a great writer P. D. James really is. Switched to the print version when my road trip was over. Also excellent.
LibraryThing member kaulsu
It's been a while since I've read a PD James. Well done, Baroness! This felt like an end to this particular character. Since the author is 90 years old, that would not be surprising, though I hate to "writer her off" to use a particularly bad pun!
LibraryThing member Mumineurope
too much detail to get to the story.
LibraryThing member LiteraryLinda
I loved reading the descriptions of the Manor and the English countryside. The story kept me guessing until I was 3/4 thru the book. Mystery readers will like P.D.James's books but you do have a goodly amount of description to get through.
LibraryThing member TheBentley
James' Adam Dalgleish rarely disappoints, and this book is no exception. It's not life-changing, but if you like British police procedurals--which I do--this is a good one. The pacing is slow but steady, the crime is well-conceived, the atmosphere is evocative, and the detection is perfectly laid
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out. Show Less
LibraryThing member piemouth
This started out with a lot of promise, but I was disappointed. I roll my eyes at the device of a taped confession from the murderer, who has committed suicide. Also, unless I missed something, the secondary mystery isn't revealed: why the first murder victim says she's having her scar removed
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"because I no longer have need of it." Show Less
LibraryThing member dbeveridge
Wonderful, as always, thoughtful, extremely literate entertainment, and if her protagonists are a little too good to be true, that's the way of entertainment. I hope she writes forever.
LibraryThing member Larkken
My biggest problem with mysteries is often the method of the reveal - and whether or not the author allows you access to all of the information their detective uses to figure out who-dun-it. This book, despite the frequent and detailed asides into the lives of relatively unimportant characters,
As for the audio edition of this book, one thing I thoroughly enjoyed was the accents and voices employed. The English accents are subtle yet all slightly unique.
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only gives you the important facts when the detectives themselves reveal them. This approach doesn't do much for me; it feels manipulative, and like the author is trying to blind the reader with a rush of information. In some ways, this makes the characters easy to understand, given the fact that this is part of a larger series of mysteries, yet it never allows me to care over much what happens to any of these characters. In fact, I found the large cast of suspects and associates difficult, and hard to keep track of who was who despite their prolonged introductions.As for the audio edition of this book, one thing I thoroughly enjoyed was the accents and voices employed. The English accents are subtle yet all slightly unique.
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Awards
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Fiction — 2008)
Pages
352
ISBN
0307270777 / 9780307270771