Call number
MYST JAM
Collection
Genres
Series
Publication
Vintage (2005), Edition: Reprint, 480 pages
Description
When the quiet Little Vestry of St. Matthew's Church becomes the blood-soaked scene of a double murder, Scotland Yard Commander Adam Dalgliesh faces an intriguing conundrum: How did an upper-crust Minister come to lie, slit throat to slit throat, next to a neighborhood derelict of the lowest order? Challenged with the investigation of a crime that appears to have endless motives, Dalgliesh explores the sinister web spun around a half-burnt diary and a violet-eyed widow who is pregnant and full of malice--all the while hoping to fill the gap of logic that joined these two disparate men in bright red death. . . .
Subjects
User reviews
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
In this novel we really get to know Kate Miskin and John Massingham, his two subordinate detectives. Kate and Massingham are rivals for promotion & the esteem of Dalgliesh, who they refer to as AD. They both have some family trouble (elderly parents or in Kate’s case, grand parent), which makes
The victim isn’t very deeply drawn though. We see a man suddenly have a religious epiphany of sorts and he is killed inside the church he is spending the night in. Berowne seems to have it made – inherited a title and a wife from his deceased older brother. He has a mistress who appears to love him for who he is not what he has. He has a respectable job as a Minister of Parliament. So why did he go over the edge on the religious angle? It’s never fully explained.
His mother is drawn pretty well – she’s been there & done everything so nothing surprises her anymore and she says virtually everything that comes into her head. She is snobby, rude and insulting and doesn’t care. I almost liked her.
The wife, Barbara is as childish as a woman can be as an adult. Virtually everything is done for her as it always has been. It reinforces the belief that beautiful women are of diminished capacity to do anything for themselves.
Mattie, the indentured servant is a shrew with mental problems. I remember her from the PBS show quite vividly. Rail thin with a kind of stringy musculature and awful curly hair. She covers for the killer because she believes him to love her and cannot see he was just using her, only that time it was for an alibi.
Dominic, despised by his father for his physical abnormalities, loved by Barbara in some weird pet-like way, kills Berowne because he found out that Berowne was going to sell the huge house they lived in and divorce Barbara. Plus Paul humiliated him in front of a woman. But, Dominic didn’t know that Ursula had been to the church before him and had the will changed to leave everything to Barbara’s unborn son, not to Barbara directly. And that he left a very distinctive button behind that tied him to the crime scene. In the end he sealed his fate by kidnapping Kate’s grandmother (and eventually killing her which was really a blessing) and nearly murdering the church priest.
The weird side story about Darren and Miss Wharton was kind of funny. In the end though, they didn’t stay together as friends – she realized that he had outgrown her and saw her true, ridiculous self.
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them more similar than either of them realize. I have seen most or this entire one on Mystery, so I remember some of the plot, although not the killer. The killer is revealed fairly early on and so the bulk of the story is showing how AD will get the evidence.The victim isn’t very deeply drawn though. We see a man suddenly have a religious epiphany of sorts and he is killed inside the church he is spending the night in. Berowne seems to have it made – inherited a title and a wife from his deceased older brother. He has a mistress who appears to love him for who he is not what he has. He has a respectable job as a Minister of Parliament. So why did he go over the edge on the religious angle? It’s never fully explained.
His mother is drawn pretty well – she’s been there & done everything so nothing surprises her anymore and she says virtually everything that comes into her head. She is snobby, rude and insulting and doesn’t care. I almost liked her.
The wife, Barbara is as childish as a woman can be as an adult. Virtually everything is done for her as it always has been. It reinforces the belief that beautiful women are of diminished capacity to do anything for themselves.
Mattie, the indentured servant is a shrew with mental problems. I remember her from the PBS show quite vividly. Rail thin with a kind of stringy musculature and awful curly hair. She covers for the killer because she believes him to love her and cannot see he was just using her, only that time it was for an alibi.
Dominic, despised by his father for his physical abnormalities, loved by Barbara in some weird pet-like way, kills Berowne because he found out that Berowne was going to sell the huge house they lived in and divorce Barbara. Plus Paul humiliated him in front of a woman. But, Dominic didn’t know that Ursula had been to the church before him and had the will changed to leave everything to Barbara’s unborn son, not to Barbara directly. And that he left a very distinctive button behind that tied him to the crime scene. In the end he sealed his fate by kidnapping Kate’s grandmother (and eventually killing her which was really a blessing) and nearly murdering the church priest.
The weird side story about Darren and Miss Wharton was kind of funny. In the end though, they didn’t stay together as friends – she realized that he had outgrown her and saw her true, ridiculous self.
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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 thorold
London in 1986: The largely-irrelevant Anglican church has been corrupted by social do-gooding on one side and a Romish infatuation with miracles on the other; the left behave like 1950s Stalinists in a John Le Carré novel; the decadent upper classes are motivated only by self-interest, whilst the
An impressive detective story, but deeply unattractive in its politics.
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Conservative Party stands alone as a bastion of honour and common-sense. If it were anyone other than P.D. James, you would take it for an elaborate satire, but I have a horrible feeling that she actually sees the world like this.An impressive detective story, but deeply unattractive in its politics.
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LibraryThing member MrsLee
A good mystery. Adam Dalgliesh is so private that he's not very interesting, and his cohorts are not nice enough or funny enough to draw one to them. Too much introspection and angst. That aside, the book is perfectly readable, it just doesn't call out to be read again.
LibraryThing member CommonReeda
For well written crime books you can't get better than P.D.James the text can stand reading out loud. She doesn't pull her punches in describing murder scenes, she has considerable powers of description. I find Dalgleish a bit stuffy though, prefer the the other detectives. And it rather a rarified
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middle class setting - I found the central characters in this book not very interesting. But the story and the recognisable and atmospheric London setting carried me along with it. Show Less
LibraryThing member sussabmax
Excellent book. The end was shocking, I actually found myself responding to it out loud, without meaning to--good thing I was alone in my car. The mystery was clever, and even when you found out who did it, it was suspenseful. I liked the new character of Inspector Kate Miskin, and I thought he
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development of both her and Chief Inspector Massingham was very well done. There were several places when I thought James was headed for something trite and stereotypical, but she did not. Show Less
LibraryThing member tamora
I had read this many years ago. I had forgotten, though, how beautifully written it is. P.D. James has raised the detective mystery to an art form. The detectives are all wonderfully formed characters.
LibraryThing member edwardsgt
Two bodies, their throats cut, one an alcoholic tramp, the other Sir Paul Berowne, a recently resigned Minister. As usual Inspector Dalgliesh makes short work of sorting out the link and who was responsible.
LibraryThing member ponsonby
I tried to read this some years but could not, but having read it fully now it seems one of James' most accomplished books in characterisation, plot and sense of place, with none of the slight straining after effect that is evident in her latest works. The settings are for the most part much less
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pleasant than in many of her books, and the characters also mostly unsympathetic; but there is a completeness about the little world she has drawn Show Less
LibraryThing member Figgles
One of her best, Dagliesh is newly appointed head of the special murder squad and is called on to investigate what appears to be a murder suicide in a church vestry in London. Great characterisation - oddly I think PD James must've just been reading Dorothy Sayer's Gaudy night as there are two
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turns of phrase that come direct from DLS - a face "stripped for action" in a mirror and another I can't remember! Show Less
LibraryThing member JulesJones
BBC Radio 4 full cast dramatisation of the novel, presented on 2 CDs. Two men are discovered with their throats cut in the vestry of St Matthews Church. One is a local tramp, the other a former government minister. The political implications make the murder investigation a job for Commander Adam
It's a good adaptation played by an excellent cast, and I enjoyed listening to it. But squeezing a long book down into 2 hours 20 minutes means that a lot of material has had to be cut, and I think the adaptation does suffer for it. It's still very enjoyable, but I think might feel a bit thin to someone who wasn't already familiar with the book.
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Dalgliesh and his team.It's a good adaptation played by an excellent cast, and I enjoyed listening to it. But squeezing a long book down into 2 hours 20 minutes means that a lot of material has had to be cut, and I think the adaptation does suffer for it. It's still very enjoyable, but I think might feel a bit thin to someone who wasn't already familiar with the book.
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LibraryThing member DowntownLibrarian
P. D. James has never written a bad book, but I think this is one of her best.
LibraryThing member pepe68
A very unconvincing story that drags on and on. Only the subplot involving Kate is touching. some other minor characters are nicely thought out (darren, the mistress) but others are just a nuisance (the priest, the murderer, the widow). definitely not PD at her best.
LibraryThing member scot2
I have loved everything I have read by P.D. James. I like the way we learn about the private lives of the main characters. It makes them seem like real people.
LibraryThing member chicjohn
Another cracker
LibraryThing member madcatter
Always love PD James
LibraryThing member k_goetz
Suspense and thrills.
LibraryThing member frygirl
One of P.D. James most profound and carefully crafted mysteries.
LibraryThing member larryking1
Once upon a time [WARNING: Name Drop Alert] I had occasion to meet Baroness PD James (and I have a signed first edition to show for it!) and it was hard to believe that this diminutive elderly lady with the twinkle in her eye could write prose like this: "Do you remember the time when you thought
The 'shambles' is the case that Inspector Adam Dalgliesh, Scotland Yard's finest, must unravel. And, considering the social milieu Dalgliesh travels in (he is a lauded published poet), and that one victim is a knighted Tory politician (the other man is Harry, 'only' a tramp), the investigation immediately is drawn into the highest realm of the British upper class. Now, this is the point where I have discovered that the study of a novel, with a teacher or a reading group (in this case The Guardian's August Book Club) you may learn precepts that otherwise would be missed. For example, I have enjoyed many of James procedurals, never noticing how her stories are drenched in Tory politics and class bias. From The Guardian: "James’s 1986 [A Taste for Death] is considered one of her finest, and contains many of her classic tropes: Anglicanism, religious doubt, troubled Tories and involved discussions of what makes good and bad coffee. There are fantastic descriptions of London, from high church architecture to the mud and slick of dingy canal towpaths, via grace and favor apartments and rundown social housing." But, then there's this: the lives and loves of the privileged are lovingly detailed, but the lowly "others" are dismissed in a perfunctory fashion. And teachers or social workers or domestics have their aspirations condescended to. Nonetheless, this crime procedural was first rate and, politics and class aside, I will concede that it is a lovingly drawn portrait of Margaret Thatcher's England peopled with characters who resonate with ugly foibles one loves to hate.
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you couldn't boil an egg?" Whoops! Wrong book. Let me try again: "There were two of them, and she knew instantly, and with absolute certainty, that they were dead. The room was a shambles. Their throats had been cut and they lay like butchered animals in a waste of blood. Instinctively she thrust Darren behind her. But she was too late. He, too, had seen. He didn’t scream but she felt him tremble and he made a small, pathetic groan, like an angry puppy. She pushed him back into the passage, closed the door, and leaned against it. She was aware of a desperate coldness, of the tumultuous thudding of her heart. It seemed to have swollen in her chest, huge and hot, and its painful drumming shook her frail body as if to burst it apart. And the smell, which at first had been tentative, elusive, no more than an alien tincture on the air, now seemed to seep into the passage with the strong effluvium of death."The 'shambles' is the case that Inspector Adam Dalgliesh, Scotland Yard's finest, must unravel. And, considering the social milieu Dalgliesh travels in (he is a lauded published poet), and that one victim is a knighted Tory politician (the other man is Harry, 'only' a tramp), the investigation immediately is drawn into the highest realm of the British upper class. Now, this is the point where I have discovered that the study of a novel, with a teacher or a reading group (in this case The Guardian's August Book Club) you may learn precepts that otherwise would be missed. For example, I have enjoyed many of James procedurals, never noticing how her stories are drenched in Tory politics and class bias. From The Guardian: "James’s 1986 [A Taste for Death] is considered one of her finest, and contains many of her classic tropes: Anglicanism, religious doubt, troubled Tories and involved discussions of what makes good and bad coffee. There are fantastic descriptions of London, from high church architecture to the mud and slick of dingy canal towpaths, via grace and favor apartments and rundown social housing." But, then there's this: the lives and loves of the privileged are lovingly detailed, but the lowly "others" are dismissed in a perfunctory fashion. And teachers or social workers or domestics have their aspirations condescended to. Nonetheless, this crime procedural was first rate and, politics and class aside, I will concede that it is a lovingly drawn portrait of Margaret Thatcher's England peopled with characters who resonate with ugly foibles one loves to hate.
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Awards
Edgar Award (Nominee — Novel — 1987)
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Winner — 1986)
Macavity Award (Winner — Novel — 1987)
Pages
480
ISBN
1400096472 / 9781400096473