Call number
MYST JAM
Collection
Genres
Series
Publication
Touchstone (2001), Edition: 1st Scribner Paperback Fiction, 368 pages
Description
An evil-tempered forensic scientist is put to death, putting many of his colleagues out of misery. Commander Adam Dalgliesh must exhume the secrets of Dr. Lorrimer's laboratory in order to lay bare the murderous motive hidden in one human heart.
Subjects
User reviews
LibraryThing member eilonwy_anne
(notes while reading:) One of the reasons P.D. James is so great is utterly simple. She writes a murder mystery like it's a novel. This sounds facile, but it's unusual, often a hallmark of greatness like James's or Josephine Tey's. In this book, for example, the discovery of the body is written,
Review: Ah, P.D. You are too good; it makes me raise my standards. This was just an okay Dalgliesh novel, which means I was never too scared on behalf of a character to stop listening, never caught myself musing on how totally awesome Dalgliesh is and missing parts of the story, et cetera. I was merely entertained and engaged the whole time. I enjoyed the wrinkles added to the plot by the fact that the murder happened at a forensic lab and most of the suspects were forensic scientists; but P.D. James has such a history of grabbing my heart as well as my brain with her mysteries that I am marking this one down for only getting the grey cells.
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not in order to give us all the details, clues and red herrings, of the body's condition, but as a truly traumatic event in the life of an established character, a rather sheltered young woman. This is what people mean when they tell you not to write to a formula. If you consider your story as a story, not as its genre, you transcend all the assembly-line books in the world.Review: Ah, P.D. You are too good; it makes me raise my standards. This was just an okay Dalgliesh novel, which means I was never too scared on behalf of a character to stop listening, never caught myself musing on how totally awesome Dalgliesh is and missing parts of the story, et cetera. I was merely entertained and engaged the whole time. I enjoyed the wrinkles added to the plot by the fact that the murder happened at a forensic lab and most of the suspects were forensic scientists; but P.D. James has such a history of grabbing my heart as well as my brain with her mysteries that I am marking this one down for only getting the grey cells.
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LibraryThing member NellieMc
I decided to read all of the Adam Daigliesh mysteries in one fell swoop and am glad I did. First, they are classic British mysteries all well-deserving of the respect P.D. James has earned for them and all are a good read. However, what is interesting is to watch the author develop her style from
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the early ones to the later ones. And, in fact, A Shroud for a Nightingale and The Black Tower (the fourth and fifth in the series) is where she crosses the divide. The later books have much more character development -- both for the players and the detectives -- make Dalgleish more rounded and are generally much more than a good mystery yarn -- they're fine novels that happen to be mysteries. The first three books (Cover Her Face, A Mind to Murder, Unnatural Causes) are just that much more simplistic. But read any or all -- she's a great writer and they are definitely worth the time. Show Less
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
spoilers somewhere toward the end
Despite the fact that this book is almost 25 years old, it was still exciting and didn’t seem too dated to me. Only a couple of times when a cell-phone would have made things a lot easier and less scary for some. It’s a very early Dalgliesh novel but he
Unlike other authors in the genre, James doesn’t home in on one suspect and make you go for it only to show you how wrong you were. Instead she puts out various clues and reveals conversations and events that can point to one or many. It’s up to the reader to figure out which. I really did think the killer would turn out to be a woman though. Either the writer, Stella, who we find out was unsuccessfully married to Lorrimer, or Susan the nervous employee’s wife. She seemed like she had backbone and would do what she had to in order to preserve her home and supposed happiness. Her silly husband Cliff was so frightened of Lorrimer that I couldn’t see him killing his tormenter no matter how awful it got. And Stella was drawn as a mysterious person who dropped things into conversations that made people wonder how she came to know such things.
But in the end it was the resident forensic examiner. Both he and Lorrimer had affairs with the lab director’s sister Domenica. They both used her complicated system of codes to meet her in the chapel on the lab grounds. Lorrimer taunted the other doctor and the doctor snapped and bashed him with a ready mallet in the biology lab. He staged a couple of phone calls to establish and alibi and burned his coat with the blood on it. His daughter, whom he had given a cup of cocoa laced with sedatives, hadn’t really drunk it and saw him burning the coat. She salvaged the unique buttons from it and help them hidden on her person. She eventually revealed this and they got the doctor to confess.
Despite the fact that this book is almost 25 years old, it was still exciting and didn’t seem too dated to me. Only a couple of times when a cell-phone would have made things a lot easier and less scary for some. It’s a very early Dalgliesh novel but he
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doesn’t enter the picture until well into the book. The first part is taken up with introducing various suspects and their possible motives for killing the despised Lorrimer. Everyone except the new receptionist, Brenda, hated him. He was an arrogant, controlling jerk so I don’t blame them. No one likes an unsympathetic victim.Unlike other authors in the genre, James doesn’t home in on one suspect and make you go for it only to show you how wrong you were. Instead she puts out various clues and reveals conversations and events that can point to one or many. It’s up to the reader to figure out which. I really did think the killer would turn out to be a woman though. Either the writer, Stella, who we find out was unsuccessfully married to Lorrimer, or Susan the nervous employee’s wife. She seemed like she had backbone and would do what she had to in order to preserve her home and supposed happiness. Her silly husband Cliff was so frightened of Lorrimer that I couldn’t see him killing his tormenter no matter how awful it got. And Stella was drawn as a mysterious person who dropped things into conversations that made people wonder how she came to know such things.
But in the end it was the resident forensic examiner. Both he and Lorrimer had affairs with the lab director’s sister Domenica. They both used her complicated system of codes to meet her in the chapel on the lab grounds. Lorrimer taunted the other doctor and the doctor snapped and bashed him with a ready mallet in the biology lab. He staged a couple of phone calls to establish and alibi and burned his coat with the blood on it. His daughter, whom he had given a cup of cocoa laced with sedatives, hadn’t really drunk it and saw him burning the coat. She salvaged the unique buttons from it and help them hidden on her person. She eventually revealed this and they got the doctor to confess.
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LibraryThing member markatread
P. D. James has had many of her mysteries take place in small isolated communities where the murder victim could have been killed by several people that knew the victim. This time the setting is in a small village near Cambridge in a forensic science laboratory. The locked front door of the
in later books, Adam Dalgliesh has assembled a special unit that goes with him to the scene of the crime. This time he has one other detective assigned to the case with him. They are not a particularly well matched team. But the lack of chemistry between them is not one of the emotional cores of the story as it is in many other mystery series. The mystery is the core of the story and how Dalgliesh uncovers the killer is what the book concentrates on. P. D. James does a great job setting up the story, slowly telling the personal stories of each of the characters, then lets you watch Dalgliesh unravel the plot.
The only real problem in the story is that a Perry Mason courtroom moment has to occur in order to catch the killer. For very little reason a character has to spill her guts at the very end in order for Dalgliesh to prove who the killer is. He knows who did it but has no proof until just like the killer used to do in the courtroom for Perry Mason, they spill their guts. It does detract from the book as a whole to have this happen, but it is still a well told story.
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laboratory means that only the other staff members working at the laboratory could have killed Dr. Lorrimer, who was essentially a jerk. The author introduces all the other members of the staff, explains some of the reasons why they may have killed Dr. Lorimmer, and then Adam Dalgliesh arrives. He is methodical, discplined, and intelligent. He slowiy uncovers all the secrets that others have tried to keep hidden and in three days uncovers the killer of Dr. Lorrimer and of the second victim as well. in later books, Adam Dalgliesh has assembled a special unit that goes with him to the scene of the crime. This time he has one other detective assigned to the case with him. They are not a particularly well matched team. But the lack of chemistry between them is not one of the emotional cores of the story as it is in many other mystery series. The mystery is the core of the story and how Dalgliesh uncovers the killer is what the book concentrates on. P. D. James does a great job setting up the story, slowly telling the personal stories of each of the characters, then lets you watch Dalgliesh unravel the plot.
The only real problem in the story is that a Perry Mason courtroom moment has to occur in order to catch the killer. For very little reason a character has to spill her guts at the very end in order for Dalgliesh to prove who the killer is. He knows who did it but has no proof until just like the killer used to do in the courtroom for Perry Mason, they spill their guts. It does detract from the book as a whole to have this happen, but it is still a well told story.
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LibraryThing member Jim53
James's mystery is well conceived and written. We meet the jerk who will be murdered, and see reasons for almost anyone who had ever met him to have done it. The real reasons, however, will have to be uncovered, and then evidence found to prove it.
Dalgleish is his usual erudite but wounded self.
The book begins with a very atmospheric scene in a "clunch pit," a type of fen, but doesn't continue in that mode. We see Dalgleish's musings on the furnishings and artwork in characters' homes, presumably to emphasize his expertise and characterize the people with whom he is interacting. We don't see a lot of his thought processes.
The book is well written but not a standout among Ms. James's works.
Dalgleish is his usual erudite but wounded self.
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Working with a marginally compatible detective, he doesn't display much emotional investment in the case, but simply goes about his work. As he does, we are given reasons to suspect several characters, some of whom seem to be delibreately unpleasant. In the end Dalgleish stumbles upon a piece of very good luck that enables him to finish off the case.The book begins with a very atmospheric scene in a "clunch pit," a type of fen, but doesn't continue in that mode. We see Dalgleish's musings on the furnishings and artwork in characters' homes, presumably to emphasize his expertise and characterize the people with whom he is interacting. We don't see a lot of his thought processes.
The book is well written but not a standout among Ms. James's works.
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LibraryThing member SkyRider
Rubric:
When a young man is found murdered in a field, the scientific examination of the exhibits is just a routine job for the staff of Hoggatt's forensic science laboratory. But nothing could have prepared them for the brutal death of one of their own. When the senior biologist is found dead in
My comments:
After having read a spate of mediocre detective fiction, I really enjoyed this one. The quality of the writing is high yet the narrative is easy to read. And, most importantly for such a book, the mystery itself is a great puzzle. The downside is that P.D. James' style of writing tends to leave her giving a lot of page space to develop the characters and when there are a number of 'closed room' suspects this can lead to the pace of the narrative dragging a little. But otherwise, this was a fantastic read.
When a young man is found murdered in a field, the scientific examination of the exhibits is just a routine job for the staff of Hoggatt's forensic science laboratory. But nothing could have prepared them for the brutal death of one of their own. When the senior biologist is found dead in
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his laboratory Commander Dalgliesh is called to the bleak fens of East Anglia, where the murderer is lying in wait to strike again.My comments:
After having read a spate of mediocre detective fiction, I really enjoyed this one. The quality of the writing is high yet the narrative is easy to read. And, most importantly for such a book, the mystery itself is a great puzzle. The downside is that P.D. James' style of writing tends to leave her giving a lot of page space to develop the characters and when there are a number of 'closed room' suspects this can lead to the pace of the narrative dragging a little. But otherwise, this was a fantastic read.
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LibraryThing member ponsonby
One of the earlier Dalgleish novels, and shorter than the later ones. Gives spare descriptions of the fenland and the local poeople and the staff of the laboratory which is the setting. The style suits the bleakness of the subject matter
LibraryThing member hugh_ashton
I like this more than many of the later Dalgliesh novels, in which I fear he becomes a caricature of himself. The characters here are presumably drawn from the author's own experience, and the Fenland setting, where I lived for a while, certainly seems realistic enough. I can believe in the
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characters here, especially the minor ones – the bent copper, the pitiful prostitute, the young girl buying her knickers at Cambridge M&S (where I also shopped) - where I cannot believe in some characters in the later books. Having said which, the author's style is nothing less than smooth and fluid throughout her whole oeuvre, and her plotting is ingenious and almost always on this side of credible. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
I'm afraid I found this rather lackluster despite James' reputation as a first-rate, literate mystery writer. It's the second book I've read by P.D. James, my first being the first Adam Dalgiesh mystery, Cover Her Face, which I found similarly unimpressive. I did think this mystery better
However, when I compare James to my favorite mystery authors, she just doesn't shine to me. Adam Dalgliesh, competent and insightful as he may be, feels bland, and a background as a poet isn't enough to distinguish him. He doesn't have the flashy brilliance of a Sherlock Holmes, the comic touches of a Hercule Poirot or Amelia Peabody, the charm of a Lord Peter Wimsey or ability to endear of Mary Russell or Patrick McKenzie. There isn't here the jaw-dropping brilliant clockwork plot of an Agatha Christie, or the impact of Josephine Tey or ability to move me like Elizabeth George. Maybe Dalgliesh, or the two novels with him I've read, don't display James' gifts at their best. But at this point I'm not inclined to read more. It's not a bad book at all--well-written and psychologically insightful and if I were the sort that read mystery books like peanuts, I might be picking up another. But this book isn't one to tempt me into reading more James when there are so many good books out there unread.
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constructed, one which, unlike that other one, held together with no holes I could find. But it's a rather unremarkable architecture, like a sturdy generic suburban house indistinguishable from others on the street. The narrative flows well, and I did note James has a gift for rendering setting, and for conveying characters and atmosphere through their surroundings and possessions. She conveys pathos by describing a grease stain on a wall in one instance, or a sour smell of cheap perfume in another case. It's a fairly clean, readable style even if I don't care much for the author's tendency to bounce madly between points of view--even mid paragraph. James did keep me guessing. In the first "book" of 80 pages or so she takes us through the points of view of several suspects, showing us various possible motives before a body is even found and until the end, she juggles the suspects and throws out enough red herrings to keep a reader wondering. In fact, I'd say too many red herrings. It strains credibility so many had such disparate motives all connected with this one lab. However, when I compare James to my favorite mystery authors, she just doesn't shine to me. Adam Dalgliesh, competent and insightful as he may be, feels bland, and a background as a poet isn't enough to distinguish him. He doesn't have the flashy brilliance of a Sherlock Holmes, the comic touches of a Hercule Poirot or Amelia Peabody, the charm of a Lord Peter Wimsey or ability to endear of Mary Russell or Patrick McKenzie. There isn't here the jaw-dropping brilliant clockwork plot of an Agatha Christie, or the impact of Josephine Tey or ability to move me like Elizabeth George. Maybe Dalgliesh, or the two novels with him I've read, don't display James' gifts at their best. But at this point I'm not inclined to read more. It's not a bad book at all--well-written and psychologically insightful and if I were the sort that read mystery books like peanuts, I might be picking up another. But this book isn't one to tempt me into reading more James when there are so many good books out there unread.
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LibraryThing member abbottthomas
I'm trying to fill some gaps in my reading of which Adam Dalgleish is one. This book came to me as a random picking from a charity shop and I have no idea how enthusiasts rate it in the canon.
P D James' writing is literate and polished: her characterisations are more three-dimensional than is
The action of the story takes place in Fen country, the somewhat improbable location of a regional forensic science centre set up in a rather grand country house, with its own Wren chapel. James deals well with the gloomy and introspective fenland, and fenland people, although none of the main protagonists are true natives. The book falls a little between a whodunit and a procedural novel and it is a bit irritating when chapters end with characters discussing important facts and conclusions to which the reader is not privy.
Commander Dalgleish is obviously a favourite of the author and of the series' fans but he was a bit too 'tortured' for my taste. I understand that James had him briefly married and briskly widowed - as well as losing his newborn child - because she envisaged the series having a good future and didn't want to have to trouble herself dealing with his growing family. Whatever the truth of this, Dalgliesh is one of the company of detectives that are emotionally wounded and alone - Morse, Rebus and maybe even Holmes. His intellectual status - he is a poet, after all - is reinforced by quotations from Crabbe and epigrams from Plutarch.
The plot is tidily constructed with an adequate number of red herrings along the way, but don't look for spoilers here! I don't think I will rush to meet Dalgliesh again despite the quality of the writing.
P D James' writing is literate and polished: her characterisations are more three-dimensional than is
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common in murder mysteries but she is still hog-tied by the convention of having to get through a sufficiently large cast of suspects with adequate motives in the first quarter of the book, as well as, in this case, making sure that the reader will be neither surprised, nor sorry, when the victim meets his (or her) violent end.The action of the story takes place in Fen country, the somewhat improbable location of a regional forensic science centre set up in a rather grand country house, with its own Wren chapel. James deals well with the gloomy and introspective fenland, and fenland people, although none of the main protagonists are true natives. The book falls a little between a whodunit and a procedural novel and it is a bit irritating when chapters end with characters discussing important facts and conclusions to which the reader is not privy.
Commander Dalgleish is obviously a favourite of the author and of the series' fans but he was a bit too 'tortured' for my taste. I understand that James had him briefly married and briskly widowed - as well as losing his newborn child - because she envisaged the series having a good future and didn't want to have to trouble herself dealing with his growing family. Whatever the truth of this, Dalgliesh is one of the company of detectives that are emotionally wounded and alone - Morse, Rebus and maybe even Holmes. His intellectual status - he is a poet, after all - is reinforced by quotations from Crabbe and epigrams from Plutarch.
The plot is tidily constructed with an adequate number of red herrings along the way, but don't look for spoilers here! I don't think I will rush to meet Dalgliesh again despite the quality of the writing.
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LibraryThing member benfulton
Some complex but understated psychology adds texture to a tradition English mystery. The action takes place in a fen, which could have been more colorfully described. Good though.
LibraryThing member chicjohn
James is always a good read
LibraryThing member thorold
Agreeable English murder mystery that presses all the right buttons (country house, fenland location, abandoned chapel, etc.) and has the classic P.D. James setting of a small official institution with all its internal procedures, squabbles and rivalries. The added ingredient this time is that the
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victim and all the suspects are experts on murder - forensic scientists, police officers, pathologists, and a novelist. Even the murder weapon is - well, a murder weapon, actually... Show Less
LibraryThing member reading_fox
Perfectly readable as a standalone mystery this is technically the 6th in the Inspector Dalgliesh series, although he doesn't feature until at least third of the way in.
Set (as usual for the series) in the fens out beyond Ely where an old skool Forensic Laboratory ran (in the 70s). The lboratory
In terms of style this is a fairly slwo read, without any dramatic action. We don't get excerts from the villain's point of view, and there are no frantic chases through the countryside. There are a lot of characters and chapter by chapte we go trough ther eexperiences of the times in question, arguments between family, secrets being discussed and the like - each a possible motive for wanting the Dr. dead. Most of the latter half of the book is switched between Dalglish and his chief assistant. Although the setting has aged badly and these days would be of little suspense given vastly more sensitive analytical techniques (they had 4 hairs to work with, today fractions of a sample are sufficient), there is considerable interest in the more or less accurate portrayal of life in 70s isolated village communities. Where both the church and pub were key social outlets, and moulded people's views of their neighbours.
Set (as usual for the series) in the fens out beyond Ely where an old skool Forensic Laboratory ran (in the 70s). The lboratory
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has recently aquired a new director, and the chief biologist is somewhat disgruntlesd to learn that it wasn't him. However he;s a fairly disgruntledsort of person anyway, and we get various intereactions with himna nd his staff to show this before he turns up murdered in his own lab, with all the doors locked. This isn't a closed room mystery though because Dalgliesh fairly quickly works out that the villain could have exited through the window. Or with a seperate set of keys. The keys become a central issue with lots of dialogue and desrciptions of who was when where with access to the various sets. As do meals and stomach contents, and clothes. ALthough the continual descriptions of the cloths appear to have nothing to do with the plot. Sex is of course ever present in such small communities and eventually people are persuaded to reveal their secrets, which allows Dalgliesh to form some suspicions. However he never gets the physical proff that he requires and we're all forced to wait for the confession. Which is a somewhat lame way of ending the various plot lines that have been developed. Although crime books normally feature a few red herrings, there are far more than usual distributed between the characters here.In terms of style this is a fairly slwo read, without any dramatic action. We don't get excerts from the villain's point of view, and there are no frantic chases through the countryside. There are a lot of characters and chapter by chapte we go trough ther eexperiences of the times in question, arguments between family, secrets being discussed and the like - each a possible motive for wanting the Dr. dead. Most of the latter half of the book is switched between Dalglish and his chief assistant. Although the setting has aged badly and these days would be of little suspense given vastly more sensitive analytical techniques (they had 4 hairs to work with, today fractions of a sample are sufficient), there is considerable interest in the more or less accurate portrayal of life in 70s isolated village communities. Where both the church and pub were key social outlets, and moulded people's views of their neighbours.
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LibraryThing member Buecherei.das-Sarah
Englands Queen of Crime
LibraryThing member Buecherei.das-Sarah
Englands Queen of Crime
LibraryThing member mbmackay
Who dunnit for the better educated. Both this and Black Tower suffer structural problems. The murder happens in a discrete group, and all the suspects have to be introduced. It all ends up a little tedious and contrived.
Read Samoa Dec 2003
Read Samoa Dec 2003
LibraryThing member Karin7
During the investigation of a local murder, we are introduced to the people who work at Hoggart's Laboratory, a forensic laboratory written and set in the 1970s. Dr. Lorrimer, who will, of course, be murdered (it's in the book description) is not at all likable, and we have been introduced to a
During the rest of the novel we continue to read the stories of the various suspects as well as the investigation. I really had high hopes that this would be a four star read, but it's difficult to do that when I am not actually rooting for any of the characters even though I did want the mystery to be solved. No doubt this is likely to be better in a film.
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slew of people with possible motive, and not one of them particularly endearing. Adam Dalgleish enters the picture in the second part of the book; there is nothing endearing about him, either, although his associate, Massingham (with a name awfully close to one the Hoggart's employees) comes close to being endearing.During the rest of the novel we continue to read the stories of the various suspects as well as the investigation. I really had high hopes that this would be a four star read, but it's difficult to do that when I am not actually rooting for any of the characters even though I did want the mystery to be solved. No doubt this is likely to be better in a film.
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LibraryThing member smik
DEATH OF AN EXPERT WITNESS is the perfect illustration of what took P.D. James to the top of British crime fiction. Characters are clearly defined, plotting is convoluted but tight, motives are hidden, and red herrings abound.
There are in fact two main plot strands: the dead girl in the "clunge
This novel shares characteristics with many others in the series: Dalgliesh makes a relatively late appearance, and the perpetrator is almost the last one standing, and his/her identity comes as a surprise. Michael Jayston does an excellent job of the narration too.
There are in fact two main plot strands: the dead girl in the "clunge
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pit", and the murder at the forensic lab. What binds them together is that Dalgliesh and his team are investigating both, and that while the forensic lab is doing the SIO at the first, their senior biologist is killed in his lab.This novel shares characteristics with many others in the series: Dalgliesh makes a relatively late appearance, and the perpetrator is almost the last one standing, and his/her identity comes as a surprise. Michael Jayston does an excellent job of the narration too.
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LibraryThing member nicolewbrown
Written in 1977, this book opens up with the murder of a young woman that the local coroner, Kerrison is sneaking out of his house to go to to pronounce that she is a murder victim. He doesn't want his teenage daughter or young son to hear him leave and worry. His daughter does anyway and gets up
Pretty soon, we meet Dr. Howath, the head of the lab who also hates Dr. Lorrimer for dating his half-sister, though she has since ended it. His feelings for his sister are complicated. They live together since the death of her husband in an auto accident. He wishes he were dead too. Oh, and Dr. Howarth got the job of head of the department over Dr. Lorrimer. Then there's Dr. Lormier's cousin Miss Angela Foley who works as Dr. Howarth's secretary who needs four thousand pounds to buy the house she's renting because the owner has decided to sell it and she and her girlfriend Sarah Mawson who is a novelist, but while a well-reviewed one, not a profitable one, don't want to move. When Lorrimer and Foley's grandmother died she refused to leave any of her 30,000 pounds to Foley because she was a girl. Lorrimer promised to leave the money to her in his will. But after his love affair with Domenica Schoefield, Dr. Howarth's sister he still believes that he can win her back and convince her to marry him so he changes his will to leave everything to set up a scholarship and 1,000 pounds to the young receptionist who works the desk, Barbara Pridmore whom he was encouraging to take her 'A' levels and pursue a career in science. Barbara was the only person who actually liked Dr. Lorrimier. No one knows that he's changed his will yet.
Then there was Dr. Middlemas, the documents expert who was asked by Clifford Bradley's wife to help out with Dr. Lorrimer who was putting down Bradley and giving him poor reviews. Dr. Lorrimer would make Dr. Bradley nervous and dejected by doing his results over constantly and being cold and hard to him. Dr. Lorrimer was harder on him because Bradley had just gotten promoted and Lorrimer believed he shouldn't be in the lab at all. Dr. Middlemas had a wife with a cousin who committed suicide over the working conditions Dr. Lorrimer put him under that caused him to lose his fiancee. Dr. Middlemas will be damned if he will let this happen again and the two get involved in fisticuffs resulting in Dr. Lorrimer having a busted nose and Dr. Middlemas having blood on his lab coat.
Of course, Dr. Lorrimer is found dead inside the lab with his head bashed in and Commander Dalgliesh is called in to investigate from London. He's working with Inspector Massingham again with this one. An interesting tidbit is that there is a gay couple as characters in a novel written by a prominent writer at this time period. Of course, no one in the book likes them and it's not necessarily because they're gay it's because of various other reasons. But when you're with them you can't help but like them and hope they get to keep the house. It hardly seems fair to pick on them for what seems to be their gayness. Dr. Lorrimer won't be the only murder in this book. Someone else will be murdered as well and this person won't be as well hated. This book just didn't grab me the way the others have and I really didn't like the way Foley and Mawson were treated. But it picked up toward the end and became a real page turner after the second body was found. I give it four out of five stars.
Quotes
Look, mate, if you can’t make it in bed, if she isn’t finding you quite up to the mark, don’t take your frustration out on the rest of us. Remember Chesterfield’s advice. The expense is exorbitant, the position ridiculous, and the pleasure transitory.
-P.D. James (Death of an Expert Witness p 53)
Death obliterates family resemblance as it does personality; there is no affinity between the living and the dead.
-P.D. James (Death of an Expert Witness p 149)
Sex no longer had the power to shock him; love, he decided, obviously could.
-P.D. James (Death of an Expert Witness p 160)
“But he wasn’t asking for a commercial arrangement,” said Dalglisesh. “He was asking for love.” “That’s something I didn’t have to give, and he had no right to expect.” None of us, thought Dalgliesh, has a right to expect it. But we do.
-P.D. James (Death of an Expert Witness p 181)
The trouble with a religious education, if you’re a pagan like me, is that you’re left all your life feeling that you’ve lost something, not that it isn’t there.
-P.D. James (Death of an Expert Witness p 191)
They’ll tell you the most destructive force in the world is hate. Don’t you believe it, lad. It’s love.
-P.D. James (Death of an Expert Witness p 208)
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looks in on her brother something the live-in housekeeper Miss Willard never does. Dr. Kerrison is in a custody battle with his soon to be ex-wife who left him and his children for a colleague at his old job. Nell, the daughter expresses a hatred over a Dr. Lorrimer who heads up the biology department of the forensic science building named Hoggath after Dr. Hoggath who started it--the first one in all of England way out in the fens in East Anglia also known as the middle of nowhere.Pretty soon, we meet Dr. Howath, the head of the lab who also hates Dr. Lorrimer for dating his half-sister, though she has since ended it. His feelings for his sister are complicated. They live together since the death of her husband in an auto accident. He wishes he were dead too. Oh, and Dr. Howarth got the job of head of the department over Dr. Lorrimer. Then there's Dr. Lormier's cousin Miss Angela Foley who works as Dr. Howarth's secretary who needs four thousand pounds to buy the house she's renting because the owner has decided to sell it and she and her girlfriend Sarah Mawson who is a novelist, but while a well-reviewed one, not a profitable one, don't want to move. When Lorrimer and Foley's grandmother died she refused to leave any of her 30,000 pounds to Foley because she was a girl. Lorrimer promised to leave the money to her in his will. But after his love affair with Domenica Schoefield, Dr. Howarth's sister he still believes that he can win her back and convince her to marry him so he changes his will to leave everything to set up a scholarship and 1,000 pounds to the young receptionist who works the desk, Barbara Pridmore whom he was encouraging to take her 'A' levels and pursue a career in science. Barbara was the only person who actually liked Dr. Lorrimier. No one knows that he's changed his will yet.
Then there was Dr. Middlemas, the documents expert who was asked by Clifford Bradley's wife to help out with Dr. Lorrimer who was putting down Bradley and giving him poor reviews. Dr. Lorrimer would make Dr. Bradley nervous and dejected by doing his results over constantly and being cold and hard to him. Dr. Lorrimer was harder on him because Bradley had just gotten promoted and Lorrimer believed he shouldn't be in the lab at all. Dr. Middlemas had a wife with a cousin who committed suicide over the working conditions Dr. Lorrimer put him under that caused him to lose his fiancee. Dr. Middlemas will be damned if he will let this happen again and the two get involved in fisticuffs resulting in Dr. Lorrimer having a busted nose and Dr. Middlemas having blood on his lab coat.
Of course, Dr. Lorrimer is found dead inside the lab with his head bashed in and Commander Dalgliesh is called in to investigate from London. He's working with Inspector Massingham again with this one. An interesting tidbit is that there is a gay couple as characters in a novel written by a prominent writer at this time period. Of course, no one in the book likes them and it's not necessarily because they're gay it's because of various other reasons. But when you're with them you can't help but like them and hope they get to keep the house. It hardly seems fair to pick on them for what seems to be their gayness. Dr. Lorrimer won't be the only murder in this book. Someone else will be murdered as well and this person won't be as well hated. This book just didn't grab me the way the others have and I really didn't like the way Foley and Mawson were treated. But it picked up toward the end and became a real page turner after the second body was found. I give it four out of five stars.
Quotes
Look, mate, if you can’t make it in bed, if she isn’t finding you quite up to the mark, don’t take your frustration out on the rest of us. Remember Chesterfield’s advice. The expense is exorbitant, the position ridiculous, and the pleasure transitory.
-P.D. James (Death of an Expert Witness p 53)
Death obliterates family resemblance as it does personality; there is no affinity between the living and the dead.
-P.D. James (Death of an Expert Witness p 149)
Sex no longer had the power to shock him; love, he decided, obviously could.
-P.D. James (Death of an Expert Witness p 160)
“But he wasn’t asking for a commercial arrangement,” said Dalglisesh. “He was asking for love.” “That’s something I didn’t have to give, and he had no right to expect.” None of us, thought Dalgliesh, has a right to expect it. But we do.
-P.D. James (Death of an Expert Witness p 181)
The trouble with a religious education, if you’re a pagan like me, is that you’re left all your life feeling that you’ve lost something, not that it isn’t there.
-P.D. James (Death of an Expert Witness p 191)
They’ll tell you the most destructive force in the world is hate. Don’t you believe it, lad. It’s love.
-P.D. James (Death of an Expert Witness p 208)
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Awards
Pages
368
ISBN
0743219627 / 9780743219624