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Adam Dalgliesh #7
A Taste For Death
Two men lie in a welter of blood in the vestry of St Matthew's Church, Paddington, their throats brutally slashed. One is Sir Paul Berowne, a baronet and recently-resigned Minister of the Crown, the other an alcoholic vagrant. Dalgliesh and his team, set up to investigate crimes of particular sensitivity, are faced with a case of extraordinary complexity as they discover the Berowne family's veneer of prosperous gentility conceals ugly and dangerous family secrets.
P.D. James, the bestselling author of Death Comes to Pemberley, Children of Men and The Murder Room, explores the mysterious and intense emotions responsible for the unique crime of murder, with authority and sensitivity. A Taste For Death, won the Silver Dagger award for crime fiction and was adapted into a BBC television series starring Robert Marsden as the inspector protagonist Adam Dalgliesh.
659 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1986
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5056 people want to read
About the author
P.D. James
322 books3,256 followersP. D. James, byname of Phyllis Dorothy James White, Baroness James of Holland Park, (born August 3, 1920, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England—died November 27, 2014, Oxford), British mystery novelist best known for her fictional detective Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard.
The daughter of a middle-grade civil servant, James grew up in the university town of Cambridge. Her formal education, however, ended at age 16 because of lack of funds, and she was thereafter self-educated. In 1941 she married Ernest C.B. White, a medical student and future physician, who returned home from wartime service mentally deranged and spent much of the rest of his life in psychiatric hospitals. To support her family (which included two children), she took work in hospital administration and, after her husband’s death in 1964, became a civil servant in the criminal section of the Department of Home Affairs. Her first mystery novel, Cover Her Face (1962), introduced Dalgliesh and was followed by six more mysteries before she retired from government service in 1979 to devote full time to writing.
Dalgliesh, James’s master detective who rises from chief inspector in the first novel to chief superintendent and then to commander, is a serious, introspective person, moralistic yet realistic. The novels in which he appears are peopled by fully rounded characters, who are civilized, genteel, and motivated. The public resonance created by James’s singular characterization and deployment of classic mystery devices led to most of the novels featuring Dalgliesh being filmed for television. James, who earned the sobriquet “Queen of Crime,” penned 14 Dalgliesh novels, with the last, The Private Patient, appearing in 2008.
James also wrote An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1972) and The Skull Beneath the Skin (1982), which centre on Cordelia Gray, a young private detective. The first of these novels was the basis for both a television movie and a short-lived series. James expanded beyond the mystery genre in The Children of Men (1992; film 2006), which explores a dystopian world in which the human race has become infertile. Her final work, Death Comes to Pemberley (2011)—a sequel to Pride and Prejudice (1813)—amplifies the class and relationship tensions between Jane Austen’s characters by situating them in the midst of a murder investigation. James’s nonfiction works include The Maul and the Pear Tree (1971), a telling of the Ratcliffe Highway murders of 1811 written with historian T.A. Critchley, and the insightful Talking About Detective Fiction (2009). Her memoir, Time to Be in Earnest, was published in 2000. She was made OBE in 1983 and was named a life peer in 1991.
The daughter of a middle-grade civil servant, James grew up in the university town of Cambridge. Her formal education, however, ended at age 16 because of lack of funds, and she was thereafter self-educated. In 1941 she married Ernest C.B. White, a medical student and future physician, who returned home from wartime service mentally deranged and spent much of the rest of his life in psychiatric hospitals. To support her family (which included two children), she took work in hospital administration and, after her husband’s death in 1964, became a civil servant in the criminal section of the Department of Home Affairs. Her first mystery novel, Cover Her Face (1962), introduced Dalgliesh and was followed by six more mysteries before she retired from government service in 1979 to devote full time to writing.
Dalgliesh, James’s master detective who rises from chief inspector in the first novel to chief superintendent and then to commander, is a serious, introspective person, moralistic yet realistic. The novels in which he appears are peopled by fully rounded characters, who are civilized, genteel, and motivated. The public resonance created by James’s singular characterization and deployment of classic mystery devices led to most of the novels featuring Dalgliesh being filmed for television. James, who earned the sobriquet “Queen of Crime,” penned 14 Dalgliesh novels, with the last, The Private Patient, appearing in 2008.
James also wrote An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1972) and The Skull Beneath the Skin (1982), which centre on Cordelia Gray, a young private detective. The first of these novels was the basis for both a television movie and a short-lived series. James expanded beyond the mystery genre in The Children of Men (1992; film 2006), which explores a dystopian world in which the human race has become infertile. Her final work, Death Comes to Pemberley (2011)—a sequel to Pride and Prejudice (1813)—amplifies the class and relationship tensions between Jane Austen’s characters by situating them in the midst of a murder investigation. James’s nonfiction works include The Maul and the Pear Tree (1971), a telling of the Ratcliffe Highway murders of 1811 written with historian T.A. Critchley, and the insightful Talking About Detective Fiction (2009). Her memoir, Time to Be in Earnest, was published in 2000. She was made OBE in 1983 and was named a life peer in 1991.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 762 reviews
June 14, 2022
Tal vez soy un poco injusto con la valoración, pero me he llevado una decepción enorme.
Un texto frío, sin emoción, con un exceso de páginas evidente, y muy aburrido. No hay manera de engancharse a la trama. Los personajes no tienen ningún interés. Ni el famoso Dalglish tiene encanto.
Cuando parece que fluye, la autora se detiene en algo carente de relación y entonces pierde interés.
La autora sabe que escribe muy bien (y es cierto) y se recrea en exceso en las páginas, por lo que desconectas de la trama. Es como si le dara igual la trama, la aparcase a un lado y se dedicara a otros menesteres. Y ya cuando se da cuenta de que se ha ido por otros temas, decide volver a la investigación, pero el lector ya no está ahí para ella. Está resoplando en su sillón, cansado de leer descripciones repetidas y detalladísimas y historias alternativas de los personajes que no aportan nada.
Perhaps I am a little unfair with the assessment, but I have been enormously disappointed.
A cold text, without emotion, with an obvious excess of pages, and very boring. There is no way to hook into the plot. The characters have no interest. Not even the famous Dalglish has charm. When it seems to flow, the author stops at something unrelated and then loses interest.
The author knows that she writes very well (and she does) and she recreates too much on the pages, so you disconnect from the plot. It's as if she doesn't care about the plot, putting it aside and dedicating herself to other gossips. And when she realizes she's gone for other topics, she decides to go back to the research, but the reader is no longer there for her. He's puffing in his armchair, tired of reading repeated and detailed descriptions and alternate stories of characters that add nothing.
Un texto frío, sin emoción, con un exceso de páginas evidente, y muy aburrido. No hay manera de engancharse a la trama. Los personajes no tienen ningún interés. Ni el famoso Dalglish tiene encanto.
Cuando parece que fluye, la autora se detiene en algo carente de relación y entonces pierde interés.
La autora sabe que escribe muy bien (y es cierto) y se recrea en exceso en las páginas, por lo que desconectas de la trama. Es como si le dara igual la trama, la aparcase a un lado y se dedicara a otros menesteres. Y ya cuando se da cuenta de que se ha ido por otros temas, decide volver a la investigación, pero el lector ya no está ahí para ella. Está resoplando en su sillón, cansado de leer descripciones repetidas y detalladísimas y historias alternativas de los personajes que no aportan nada.
Perhaps I am a little unfair with the assessment, but I have been enormously disappointed.
A cold text, without emotion, with an obvious excess of pages, and very boring. There is no way to hook into the plot. The characters have no interest. Not even the famous Dalglish has charm. When it seems to flow, the author stops at something unrelated and then loses interest.
The author knows that she writes very well (and she does) and she recreates too much on the pages, so you disconnect from the plot. It's as if she doesn't care about the plot, putting it aside and dedicating herself to other gossips. And when she realizes she's gone for other topics, she decides to go back to the research, but the reader is no longer there for her. He's puffing in his armchair, tired of reading repeated and detailed descriptions and alternate stories of characters that add nothing.
October 16, 2018
I wasn't gripped from the beginning of P.D. James' Taste for Death, but I'm happy I continued reading. I felt more and more engaged as the story unfolded. To me, that more than made up for the slow beginning. This was an enjoyable and intelligent mystery. This was my first time reading P.D. James, but I'll look for more of her work. 3.75 stars.
May 10, 2019
I had read the author’s dystopian novel, Children of Men, a long time back. But, This was my first Adam Dalgliesh novel. I had heard a great deal about the author’s mystery novels and started the book with very high expectations.
The book starts with the discovery of two bodies in the vestry of a church. One of the victims was a homeless drunk, but the other was Sir Paul Berowne, a wealthy aristocrat as well as a conservative MP.
Thus begins the investigation by Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team, Massingham and Kate. I liked the character of Dalgliesh – he is a good cop, a good human being and also a poet!
The best thing about the book is the characterization. The narrative is peopled by individuals from all walks of life, and each one has a distinct personality. Oh! Did I mention that the author has done a commendable job of portraying human relationships and how they change over time.
The characters of Kate and Massingham were also quite interesting, especially Kate. There was a silent tension (for the lack of a better word) them, but there was also mutual respect. I liked the fact that the cops were not cardboard cutouts but humans of flesh and blood, with their strengths and frailties. Not only the cops but most of the characters in the novel were quite well fleshed out.
Dalgliesh is not a one man army. He would need the unique strengths and perspectives of his team members.
Dalgliesh had known and respected Sir Berowne before the murder, and had sympathies for him. Sir Berowne was a tragic character himself. In his own words “ Most of the things I expected to value in life have come to me through death. He was a decent man but death used to surround him and his family life was not a very happy one. He had some religious revelation and was seeking a different turn in his life, but his brutal murder put an end to all his dreams.
As the investigation would progress, a lot of unsavory secrets around Sir Berowne’s family and acquaintances would be revealed. There would be multiple potential suspects with strong motives.
Honestly speaking, the book was extremely slow in the beginning. There were multiple digressions and too much of detailed descriptions of places. At times reading it was a task. The book demands your patience and it is not a quick read. However, if you can manage to hold on, you will find the story would slowly become more and more engrossing.
I certainly enjoyed the book and do not regret investing time in it. Then why did I give it a 3 star rating? Actually I believe it deserves a score of 3.5, but I didn’t want to round it off to 4.
By the way, this book features in the list of Top 100 Crime Novels published by the Crime Writers' Association (UK) in 1990.
The book starts with the discovery of two bodies in the vestry of a church. One of the victims was a homeless drunk, but the other was Sir Paul Berowne, a wealthy aristocrat as well as a conservative MP.
Thus begins the investigation by Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team, Massingham and Kate. I liked the character of Dalgliesh – he is a good cop, a good human being and also a poet!
The best thing about the book is the characterization. The narrative is peopled by individuals from all walks of life, and each one has a distinct personality. Oh! Did I mention that the author has done a commendable job of portraying human relationships and how they change over time.
The characters of Kate and Massingham were also quite interesting, especially Kate. There was a silent tension (for the lack of a better word) them, but there was also mutual respect. I liked the fact that the cops were not cardboard cutouts but humans of flesh and blood, with their strengths and frailties. Not only the cops but most of the characters in the novel were quite well fleshed out.
Dalgliesh is not a one man army. He would need the unique strengths and perspectives of his team members.
Dalgliesh had known and respected Sir Berowne before the murder, and had sympathies for him. Sir Berowne was a tragic character himself. In his own words “ Most of the things I expected to value in life have come to me through death. He was a decent man but death used to surround him and his family life was not a very happy one. He had some religious revelation and was seeking a different turn in his life, but his brutal murder put an end to all his dreams.
As the investigation would progress, a lot of unsavory secrets around Sir Berowne’s family and acquaintances would be revealed. There would be multiple potential suspects with strong motives.
Honestly speaking, the book was extremely slow in the beginning. There were multiple digressions and too much of detailed descriptions of places. At times reading it was a task. The book demands your patience and it is not a quick read. However, if you can manage to hold on, you will find the story would slowly become more and more engrossing.
I certainly enjoyed the book and do not regret investing time in it. Then why did I give it a 3 star rating? Actually I believe it deserves a score of 3.5, but I didn’t want to round it off to 4.
By the way, this book features in the list of Top 100 Crime Novels published by the Crime Writers' Association (UK) in 1990.
August 3, 2019
Always loved Inspector/commander Dalgliesh, also on screen.
March 10, 2019
The year of P.D. James rolls on.
As usual this is a well written mystery that grips you to the end. And of course seeing the teleplay years ago, it played through my head as I was reading the story.
There is one line from the book that did stick with me though about a woman’s feeling towards a man. I won’t spoil the story by noting it down.
I hope Number 8# in this series is just as good.
As usual this is a well written mystery that grips you to the end. And of course seeing the teleplay years ago, it played through my head as I was reading the story.
There is one line from the book that did stick with me though about a woman’s feeling towards a man. I won’t spoil the story by noting it down.
I hope Number 8# in this series is just as good.
September 25, 2020
The seventh book in the Dalgliesh series was somewhat a disappointment. The preceding book in the series was so promising that I expected more. But unfortunately, it felt too short of the mark.
The murder-mystery plot was a clever one, no doubt there, but the problem was to keep a clear track of the mystery when it was overcrowded with too detailed descriptions into characters, places, surroundings, and architecture. It was too tiring a business that I soon lost interest. I figured the criminal earlier on and I wasn't too keen on finding the motive. Anyhow, it was totally lost to me in James's flowery prose.
I felt nothing for the characters. They were cold and distant and altogether unappealing. Even Dalgleish, Massingham, and the new subordinate, Kate Miskin was quite tiring. And the constant rivalry between Massingham and Kate grated on my nerves. The only thing I could honestly say to have enjoyed is the ambiance of the church where the murder took place.
Presently, I'm at a point of indecision as to whether I should continue the series. But my strong interest in the mystery genre and the hope that I might still enjoy some of the books in the series make me want to go on.
The murder-mystery plot was a clever one, no doubt there, but the problem was to keep a clear track of the mystery when it was overcrowded with too detailed descriptions into characters, places, surroundings, and architecture. It was too tiring a business that I soon lost interest. I figured the criminal earlier on and I wasn't too keen on finding the motive. Anyhow, it was totally lost to me in James's flowery prose.
I felt nothing for the characters. They were cold and distant and altogether unappealing. Even Dalgleish, Massingham, and the new subordinate, Kate Miskin was quite tiring. And the constant rivalry between Massingham and Kate grated on my nerves. The only thing I could honestly say to have enjoyed is the ambiance of the church where the murder took place.
Presently, I'm at a point of indecision as to whether I should continue the series. But my strong interest in the mystery genre and the hope that I might still enjoy some of the books in the series make me want to go on.
July 4, 2020
He had felt for the first time an adult and almost overwhelming sense of the sadness at the heart of life.
Reading this in order with a book group and this is certainly the best of PDJ's work for me to date. While she still hangs the skeleton of her plot on a police murder investigation, the real meat of the book explores the inner souls of her characters, especially with regard to disillusion, spiritual malaise and complicated forms of guilt.
There are some irritations: an excessive attention to descriptions of houses, interiors and precisely what can be seen out of every window adds a frequently unnecessary ponderousness to the writing, as does James' insistence that all her characters read only 'literature' (Elizabeth Bowen, Trollope, and Shakespeare are all name-checked, and characters correct each other on obscure quotations from Austen). They also only listen to classical music and recognise a concerto immediately as soon as they hear a chord, and hang original art on their walls which visitors also appreciate at first glance...
That cultural snobbishness aside, this has moved on significantly from the first books which looked back nostalgically at the classic Golden Age crime: now the 'great house' is riddled with unease and corruption - and there's no return to any safety or stability by the end.
June 16, 2008
This had more twists than the average P.D. James novel. The action really picked up in the last hundred pages. James pays a lot of attention here to providing complete arcs for minor characters, which is a nice touch. The book doesn't just end when the detectives figure out who the murderer is. The characters continue to make choices, trying to make the best of their circumstances, and we get to explore the effects of all these actions. It's even poignant. Good stuff.
October 14, 2020
A long and well plotted murder mystery, I like the Dalgliesh series a little more with each book. If only she would have included a character list-so hard to keep track of everyone!
December 13, 2014
P.D. James is considered as a worthy successor to Agatha Christie and is widely regarded as one of the most celebrated crime novelists of our generation. But, in spite of all that I have never enjoyed reading her books. I mostly found them boring and bland.
Now, the book. The edition I was reading was a TV tie-up, with faces of two actors who played character parts in the dramatization of the novel and it was 552 pages long.
Paul Berowne who is an MP and a former cabinet minister is found dead in a church, with his throat slit with his own razor, along with fellow victim, Harry Mack, a homeless tramp. This incident brings Commander Adam Dalgleish, poet and detective into the scenario to find out who was responsible for the dirty deed. He, with his team sets about his task and in the process involves Berowne’s mother, his wife and her lover, daughter, his mistress and others. The plot and the motive was very simple. It all came down to money and jealousy. So, my problem with this book was that 552 pages were too much for this book. According to me the whole matter could and should have been condensed to a maximum of 350 pages.
I like my mystery novels with a liberal dose of clues and twists. I do like the psychological part, but an abundance of it turns the whole novel boring. In this case, there was serious lack of clues and twists, with an abundance of psychology. Every character was thinking, even the police was thinking, and amidst all these thought process, I could hardly find any useful bit related to the murder or the investigation. And there were conversations, long long boring conversations. The whole thing seemed that everyone was chatting, instead of providing clues or pointing out suspects they were all busy chatting!!!
The ending when it came, almost seemed a blessing!!! Literally it dropped out of the sky. All those pages, full of room descriptions and insightful chats and detailed characterisations etc etc were just there to fill up the pages. I felt cheated. 552 pages and I get this???? And, there was my nemesis to deal with, super long paragraphs!!!!
Now, the book. The edition I was reading was a TV tie-up, with faces of two actors who played character parts in the dramatization of the novel and it was 552 pages long.
Paul Berowne who is an MP and a former cabinet minister is found dead in a church, with his throat slit with his own razor, along with fellow victim, Harry Mack, a homeless tramp. This incident brings Commander Adam Dalgleish, poet and detective into the scenario to find out who was responsible for the dirty deed. He, with his team sets about his task and in the process involves Berowne’s mother, his wife and her lover, daughter, his mistress and others. The plot and the motive was very simple. It all came down to money and jealousy. So, my problem with this book was that 552 pages were too much for this book. According to me the whole matter could and should have been condensed to a maximum of 350 pages.
I like my mystery novels with a liberal dose of clues and twists. I do like the psychological part, but an abundance of it turns the whole novel boring. In this case, there was serious lack of clues and twists, with an abundance of psychology. Every character was thinking, even the police was thinking, and amidst all these thought process, I could hardly find any useful bit related to the murder or the investigation. And there were conversations, long long boring conversations. The whole thing seemed that everyone was chatting, instead of providing clues or pointing out suspects they were all busy chatting!!!
The ending when it came, almost seemed a blessing!!! Literally it dropped out of the sky. All those pages, full of room descriptions and insightful chats and detailed characterisations etc etc were just there to fill up the pages. I felt cheated. 552 pages and I get this???? And, there was my nemesis to deal with, super long paragraphs!!!!
August 28, 2017
We know within half-a-dozen words that persons have been done to death. In a style worlds away from the twitterverse, P.D. James continues for eight pages before dishing up satisfaction for any who live by plot alone. In the meantime she takes whatever time she needs to set the scene of the crime (a sortof worse-for-wear All Saints Margaret Street, translated to a seedy neighborhood around Paddington Basin, near Paddington Station) and to introduce an incongruous pair: a spinster church lady, whose preoccupation with church vestries and high church ritual have not diverted her from Matthew 19:14, and her forsaken, independent eight-year-old protector. Only after we’ve come to care a bit about this odd couple and been kept in suspense, through a dark tunnel and past weedy thickets, does James open a door to reveal the bloody scene. It’s classic P.D. James. Some people have time for it; others don’t.
After that, the spinster and the eight-year-old will largely vanish until the denouement, after which (to her credit) James sorts them out in a way more realistic than heart warmingly satisfying. In the intervening several hundred pages Adam Dalgliesh must confront both a mounting pile of corpses and the largely (if not wholly) unlikable members of a titled British family variously to blame. A female Inspector Miskin assists the Superintendant and occasionally eclipses him, which happily enriches the interaction of personalities and points-of-view. I’m guessing/hoping the author continued to play them off against one another as Dalgliesh continued his unending fight against crime in later books. Restive readers longing for a little less talk and a lot more action should welcome the plot’s later twisty turns and gunfire, though they should be forewarned that James will also take the time to pick up some of the pieces afterward.
After that, the spinster and the eight-year-old will largely vanish until the denouement, after which (to her credit) James sorts them out in a way more realistic than heart warmingly satisfying. In the intervening several hundred pages Adam Dalgliesh must confront both a mounting pile of corpses and the largely (if not wholly) unlikable members of a titled British family variously to blame. A female Inspector Miskin assists the Superintendant and occasionally eclipses him, which happily enriches the interaction of personalities and points-of-view. I’m guessing/hoping the author continued to play them off against one another as Dalgliesh continued his unending fight against crime in later books. Restive readers longing for a little less talk and a lot more action should welcome the plot’s later twisty turns and gunfire, though they should be forewarned that James will also take the time to pick up some of the pieces afterward.
July 8, 2020
I have been reading the Adam Dalgliesh books alongside one of my book groups and this is the seventh, published in 1986. I was surprised to realise there was almost a decade between the previous book, “Death of an Expert Witness,” (1977) and this one. She had written a Cordelia Gray novel, but still, it is quite a gap. “A Taste for Death,” is often considered one of her best novels and received awards, as well as being nominated for others. It does come across as literary crime, with a very character driven and detailed storyline.
The book begins with an elderly woman, accompanied by a young boy, who discovers the bodies of Sir Paul Berowne, a Minister of the Crown, and a tramp, named Harry Mack, in the vestry of a St Matthews Church. Berowne was an acquaintance of Dalgliesh and, although they had only met a couple of times, it makes the crime a little more personal. Dalgliesh, along with DCI John Massingham and DI Kate Miskin, begin to unravel the reasons why a respected, wealthy man, like Berowne, was found murdered, sleeping in a church.
This has a good cast of characters, possible suspects, and motives. I particularly liked Mrs Wharton, who appears at the very beginning of the book, alongside the young, roguish, Darren. I also enjoyed Kate Miskin, and her changing, sometimes difficult, relationship with Massingham. At times, James gets a little bogged down in detail, and description, but, overall, this is a really excellent addition to the series and well as, in places, being truly poignant.
The book begins with an elderly woman, accompanied by a young boy, who discovers the bodies of Sir Paul Berowne, a Minister of the Crown, and a tramp, named Harry Mack, in the vestry of a St Matthews Church. Berowne was an acquaintance of Dalgliesh and, although they had only met a couple of times, it makes the crime a little more personal. Dalgliesh, along with DCI John Massingham and DI Kate Miskin, begin to unravel the reasons why a respected, wealthy man, like Berowne, was found murdered, sleeping in a church.
This has a good cast of characters, possible suspects, and motives. I particularly liked Mrs Wharton, who appears at the very beginning of the book, alongside the young, roguish, Darren. I also enjoyed Kate Miskin, and her changing, sometimes difficult, relationship with Massingham. At times, James gets a little bogged down in detail, and description, but, overall, this is a really excellent addition to the series and well as, in places, being truly poignant.
August 24, 2022
The Baronet and the Tramp
Review of the Vintage Canada paperback (2011) of the Faber & Faber hardcover original (1986)
Berowne had resigned his minister's post apparently on the basis of a religious experience, which was also concurrent with a poison pen letter campaign hinting at his possible involvement in the deaths of two young women who had been in employ in his household and in the accidental death of his first wife. He is spending time at the church and avoiding his family: a domineering mother, a flashy 2nd wife, a freeloading brother-in-law and several servants. There is the suspicion of murder-suicide due to the death of the tramp and the use of Berowne's own cutthroat razor in both deaths, found beside him. Dalgliesh thinks it is double murder though and the suspects mount as the squad traces all of Berowne's history and that of the family.
A Taste for Death is quite a long book for P.D. James at 624 pages in this 2011 edition. Earlier books had been mostly in the 300 to 400 page range. She uses the extra space to go even further in depth for her background characterizations of the suspects, but also about Dalgliesh's assistants Massingham and Miskin who envy each other, but do not really know the pressures the other one is dealing with in their personal lives. We learn very little new about Dalgliesh himself though, except that he apparently has not written poetry for several years now and does not expect to do so again.
Despite its length this was still a reasonably quick read for me over several days, the final 150 pages or so when the wrong 'un becomes apparent lead to a increasingly suspenseful and fateful climax.
Front cover of the original Faber & Faber hardcover edition (1986). Image sourced from Wikipedia.
I read A Taste for Death as part of my continuing 2022 binge re-read of the P.D. James novels, which I am enjoying immensely. I started the re-reads when I recently discovered my 1980's P.D. James Sphere Books paperbacks while clearing a storage locker. To keep to the order of the series I realized that I had to newly source A Taste for Death, which I had not previously read. I was able to find a nice copy of the 2011 Vintage Canada paperback.
Trivia and Links
* In Book 1, Adam Dalgliesh was a Detective Chief Inspector, in Books 2 to 4 he is a Detective Superintendent and in Books 5 to 14 he is a Detective Commander.
A Taste for Death was adapted for television in 1988 as part of the long running Dalgliesh TV-series for Anglia Television/ITV (1983-1998) starring actor Roy Marsden as Commander Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard. You can watch the 6 episodes of the 1988 adaptation starting with Episode 1 on YouTube here. With a 5 hour running time, this adaptation is very faithful to the original novel.
Actor Bertie Carvel as Commander Adam Dalgliesh in the 2021 TV adaptation of "A Taste for Death". Image sourced from IMDb.
The new Acorn TV-series reboot Dalgliesh (2021-?) starring Bertie Carver as Adam Dalgliesh adapted A Taste for Death as Episodes 5 & 6 of Season 1. Season 1 adapted Books 4, 5 & 7. With a 3 hour running time, this adaptation edits out a considerable portion of the novel and the final confrontation takes place in a different location and with some different characters.
Review of the Vintage Canada paperback (2011) of the Faber & Faber hardcover original (1986)
No one joins the police without getting some enjoyment out of exercising power. No one joins the murder squad who hasn't a taste for death. The danger begins when the pleasure becomes an end in itself. That's when it's time to think about another job. - Adam Dalgliesh makes observations during A Taste for DeathDetective Commander* Adam Dalgliesh is the head of a new elite squad at Scotland Yard CID with his old assistant Chief Inspector John Massingham and new assistant Inspector Kate Miskin. The squad has been formed to handle especially high profile cases and they are called into service when ex-Minister of the Crown Sir Paul Berowne and a street tramp are both found dead in a church vestry in a poor London parish.
Berowne had resigned his minister's post apparently on the basis of a religious experience, which was also concurrent with a poison pen letter campaign hinting at his possible involvement in the deaths of two young women who had been in employ in his household and in the accidental death of his first wife. He is spending time at the church and avoiding his family: a domineering mother, a flashy 2nd wife, a freeloading brother-in-law and several servants. There is the suspicion of murder-suicide due to the death of the tramp and the use of Berowne's own cutthroat razor in both deaths, found beside him. Dalgliesh thinks it is double murder though and the suspects mount as the squad traces all of Berowne's history and that of the family.
A Taste for Death is quite a long book for P.D. James at 624 pages in this 2011 edition. Earlier books had been mostly in the 300 to 400 page range. She uses the extra space to go even further in depth for her background characterizations of the suspects, but also about Dalgliesh's assistants Massingham and Miskin who envy each other, but do not really know the pressures the other one is dealing with in their personal lives. We learn very little new about Dalgliesh himself though, except that he apparently has not written poetry for several years now and does not expect to do so again.
Despite its length this was still a reasonably quick read for me over several days, the final 150 pages or so when the wrong 'un becomes apparent lead to a increasingly suspenseful and fateful climax.
Front cover of the original Faber & Faber hardcover edition (1986). Image sourced from Wikipedia.
I read A Taste for Death as part of my continuing 2022 binge re-read of the P.D. James novels, which I am enjoying immensely. I started the re-reads when I recently discovered my 1980's P.D. James Sphere Books paperbacks while clearing a storage locker. To keep to the order of the series I realized that I had to newly source A Taste for Death, which I had not previously read. I was able to find a nice copy of the 2011 Vintage Canada paperback.
Trivia and Links
* In Book 1, Adam Dalgliesh was a Detective Chief Inspector, in Books 2 to 4 he is a Detective Superintendent and in Books 5 to 14 he is a Detective Commander.
A Taste for Death was adapted for television in 1988 as part of the long running Dalgliesh TV-series for Anglia Television/ITV (1983-1998) starring actor Roy Marsden as Commander Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard. You can watch the 6 episodes of the 1988 adaptation starting with Episode 1 on YouTube here. With a 5 hour running time, this adaptation is very faithful to the original novel.
Actor Bertie Carvel as Commander Adam Dalgliesh in the 2021 TV adaptation of "A Taste for Death". Image sourced from IMDb.
The new Acorn TV-series reboot Dalgliesh (2021-?) starring Bertie Carver as Adam Dalgliesh adapted A Taste for Death as Episodes 5 & 6 of Season 1. Season 1 adapted Books 4, 5 & 7. With a 3 hour running time, this adaptation edits out a considerable portion of the novel and the final confrontation takes place in a different location and with some different characters.
June 29, 2020
This is another fine installment in the series. Just past halfway, I made a note that good novels are built upon conflict. This is a novel where the conflict happens to involve an investigation for murder. Normally, one would just call it a murder mystery and move on. I happen to be one who thinks this series is some sort of hybrid between a traditional murder mystery and a traditional novel.
In this, the family of the murdered man sees little reason to cooperate with Dalgliesh and his squad. If lying to the police is necessary to prevent a family scandal, then lying they will do. But which are lies? It's the old conundrum of separating the truth tellers from the liars - which are which? The last 100 pages or so turned into a bit of a thriller. I'm not sure now exactly why I thought I knew who was the perpetrator. I was right - a rarity. The thriller aspect added an extra element.
The writing is better than most murder mysteries. That isn't intended to disparage other authors of the genre - there is some very fine writing in other mysteries, too. It's that James' writing appeals to me in a way that most others do not. I'm sure I've observed this in prior reviews of books of the series as well as remarking upon the good characterization. This was another 4-star read for me.
In this, the family of the murdered man sees little reason to cooperate with Dalgliesh and his squad. If lying to the police is necessary to prevent a family scandal, then lying they will do. But which are lies? It's the old conundrum of separating the truth tellers from the liars - which are which? The last 100 pages or so turned into a bit of a thriller. I'm not sure now exactly why I thought I knew who was the perpetrator. I was right - a rarity. The thriller aspect added an extra element.
The writing is better than most murder mysteries. That isn't intended to disparage other authors of the genre - there is some very fine writing in other mysteries, too. It's that James' writing appeals to me in a way that most others do not. I'm sure I've observed this in prior reviews of books of the series as well as remarking upon the good characterization. This was another 4-star read for me.
May 27, 2015
PD James has lingered a lot. She delves so much on each scene, it becomes really boring at times. For instance, at the very beginning, she has gone into so much of detail about the dead bodies and their setting that it has actually become extremely morbid.
It is very generous of her to want to share her vision completely, to the last minute detail, but it negatively affects the mind's ability to hold interest in her work. There should have been some leeway given to the reader to imagine some part of the story. She snuffs off that desire by her constant detailing.
Having said this, I can credit her with successfully managing to get a human element in her narrative. She succeeds in involving you in her characters. You can understand her characters and all makes sense eventually.
The mystery wasn't ground breaking. It started vague and slow, but it picks up steam as it progresses. When the end came, it was quite predictable.
This could have been a good read, if it wasn't so long and descriptive. Accepting that the intentions were honourable, the editors should have intervened to make it more crisp, as a mystery need be.
It is very generous of her to want to share her vision completely, to the last minute detail, but it negatively affects the mind's ability to hold interest in her work. There should have been some leeway given to the reader to imagine some part of the story. She snuffs off that desire by her constant detailing.
Having said this, I can credit her with successfully managing to get a human element in her narrative. She succeeds in involving you in her characters. You can understand her characters and all makes sense eventually.
The mystery wasn't ground breaking. It started vague and slow, but it picks up steam as it progresses. When the end came, it was quite predictable.
This could have been a good read, if it wasn't so long and descriptive. Accepting that the intentions were honourable, the editors should have intervened to make it more crisp, as a mystery need be.
August 28, 2021
A murder takes place in the vestry of a church. Paul Berowne a MP who recently resigns is murdered alongside a tramp. I did like the church scenes. The people in the story were all unlikeable. Lady Ursula, Paul’s vacuous wife Barbara, his insipid daughter Sarah, the brother-in-law Swayne a lazy shifty piece of work.
The rivalry between Kate and Massingham was like watching who was teachers pet. Dalgleish was the usual unemotional on the outside and inside a ball of contradictions. I enjoyed the television adaptation of the book with its minor changes.
The end of the book was good with the kitchen scene with Kate’s grandmother and the madman Swayne.
The rivalry between Kate and Massingham was like watching who was teachers pet. Dalgleish was the usual unemotional on the outside and inside a ball of contradictions. I enjoyed the television adaptation of the book with its minor changes.
The end of the book was good with the kitchen scene with Kate’s grandmother and the madman Swayne.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 27, 2013
Perhaps classic murder mysteries are just not my genre. I found this book PAINFUL to read. For me it was predictable, boring and totally unsuspenseful. I never came to care about the characters. There were endless paragraphs of physical description, mostly about furniture. Ugh! The emotional breakdowns at the end were beyond unrealistic. I'm not sure how people like this stuff, but obviously they do, so what do I know?
October 4, 2022
לסקירה מפורטת בעברית קישור לבלוג שלי -
https://sivi-the-avid-reader.com/a-ta...
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December 8, 2011
A just-retired, blue-blooded government minister and a tramp have their throats cut in a church in James's well plotted, nicely paced mystery. I'm a big fan of James, and of her lovely Dalgliesh in particular. She allows Dalgliesh and his subordinate, Constable Kate Miskin, to be thoughtful, well-rounded characters, deserving of our admiration. Nearly everyone else in the book (along with nearly everyone else in every P.D. James book) comes in for very harsh treatment. James is a deeply misanthropic writer. (I'm not a fan of the misanthropy.) The upper classes are chilly and condescending; the lower classes, especially the women, are sour, or bitter, or have given up on happiness. The proles, and the elderly, are always cruelly sketched:
She was, he guessed, in her late thirties, and was uncompromisingly plain in a way it struck him few women nowadays were. A small sharp nose was imbedded between pudgy cheeks on which the threads of broken veins were emphasized rather than disguised by a thin crust of make-up. She had a primly censorious mouth above a slightly receding chin already showing the first slackness of a dewlap. Her hair, which looked as if it had been inexpertly permed, was pulled back at the sides but frizzed over the high forehead rather in the poodle-like fashion of an Edwardian. (Evelyn Matlock, p. 93)
Her skin was cleft with deep lines running from the jaw to the high jutting cheekbones. It was as if two palms had been placed against the frail skin and forced it upwards, so that he saw with a shock of premonitory recognition the shine of the skull beneath the skin. The scrolls of the ears flat against the sides of the skull were so large that they looked like abnormal excrescences. (Ursula Berowne, p. 96)
The flesh seemed to have slipped from the bones so that the beaked nose cleft the skin sharp as a knife edge while the jowls hung in slack, mottled pouches like the flesh of a plucked fowl. The flaming Massingham hair was bleached and faded now to the colour and texture of straw. He thought: He looks as archaic as a Rowlandson drawing. Old age makes caricatures of us all. No wonder we dread it. (Lord Dungannon, p. 168)
A mouth is never merely a mouth, but "a moist focus of emotion." A character she doesn't like just can't win. "His tone was almost studiously polite, but neither sardonic nor provocatively obsequious." Really? You're going to hold that against him?
In the weirdest, most misogynistic category, this would probably be the winner: She had the drained look which Sarah had seen on the face of a friend who had recently given birth, bright-eyed, but bloated and somehow diminished, as if virtue had gone out of her. (Evelyn Matlock, p. 393)
She was, he guessed, in her late thirties, and was uncompromisingly plain in a way it struck him few women nowadays were. A small sharp nose was imbedded between pudgy cheeks on which the threads of broken veins were emphasized rather than disguised by a thin crust of make-up. She had a primly censorious mouth above a slightly receding chin already showing the first slackness of a dewlap. Her hair, which looked as if it had been inexpertly permed, was pulled back at the sides but frizzed over the high forehead rather in the poodle-like fashion of an Edwardian. (Evelyn Matlock, p. 93)
Her skin was cleft with deep lines running from the jaw to the high jutting cheekbones. It was as if two palms had been placed against the frail skin and forced it upwards, so that he saw with a shock of premonitory recognition the shine of the skull beneath the skin. The scrolls of the ears flat against the sides of the skull were so large that they looked like abnormal excrescences. (Ursula Berowne, p. 96)
The flesh seemed to have slipped from the bones so that the beaked nose cleft the skin sharp as a knife edge while the jowls hung in slack, mottled pouches like the flesh of a plucked fowl. The flaming Massingham hair was bleached and faded now to the colour and texture of straw. He thought: He looks as archaic as a Rowlandson drawing. Old age makes caricatures of us all. No wonder we dread it. (Lord Dungannon, p. 168)
A mouth is never merely a mouth, but "a moist focus of emotion." A character she doesn't like just can't win. "His tone was almost studiously polite, but neither sardonic nor provocatively obsequious." Really? You're going to hold that against him?
In the weirdest, most misogynistic category, this would probably be the winner: She had the drained look which Sarah had seen on the face of a friend who had recently given birth, bright-eyed, but bloated and somehow diminished, as if virtue had gone out of her. (Evelyn Matlock, p. 393)
October 14, 2018
Another Dalgleish novel by P.D James, which means a clever plot, a couple of murders, and some character development of Dalgleish and his team. This one surprised at the end, with the murderer going on a vengeful spree that threatens one of Dalgleish's team. I like this series, and this is a solid addition.
February 9, 2022
I didn't enjoy this.
It's well enough written. PD James can write, though I do agree with some other reviewers who mentioned that this book was a bit long, and could have used some editing. I'm giving it three stars, because I think it is a well-written mystery.
But I found it unpleasant to read. I hadn't realized there was 10 years between this and the last Dalgliesh novel. It shows, and not in a good way. Apparently some major events have happened in the protagonists life, that are sort of obliquely alluded to, but not really described. Also, I found the mystery itself, and everyone involved, unpleasant. Very much so. Not that I expect a murder mystery to be a barrel of laughs, but this felt darker than the previous PD James novels I've read. It probably didn't help that my interest wasn't really grabbed until 100 or so pages in.
I thought there were too many characters, and it seemed to meander around.
Oh, and I seriously hated the ending. Not who the killer was revealed to be, but pretty much everything associated with the action of wrapping the case up. It felt both far too unpleasant, and far too... convenient. Ending the review now before I talk myself down to two stars.
It's well enough written. PD James can write, though I do agree with some other reviewers who mentioned that this book was a bit long, and could have used some editing. I'm giving it three stars, because I think it is a well-written mystery.
But I found it unpleasant to read. I hadn't realized there was 10 years between this and the last Dalgliesh novel. It shows, and not in a good way. Apparently some major events have happened in the protagonists life, that are sort of obliquely alluded to, but not really described. Also, I found the mystery itself, and everyone involved, unpleasant. Very much so. Not that I expect a murder mystery to be a barrel of laughs, but this felt darker than the previous PD James novels I've read. It probably didn't help that my interest wasn't really grabbed until 100 or so pages in.
I thought there were too many characters, and it seemed to meander around.
Oh, and I seriously hated the ending. Not who the killer was revealed to be, but pretty much everything associated with the action of wrapping the case up. It felt both far too unpleasant, and far too... convenient. Ending the review now before I talk myself down to two stars.
August 21, 2010
This was my first P.D. James mystery, and it was a fine book. James' detective, Adam Dalgliesh, is apparently a poet (we are told this again and again) but we never see him writing or read any of his verse. Maybe these are present in other Dalgliesh books.
James is a fine writer, but she used one narrative tool in this book of which I'm not a huge fan. The reader doesn't have complete access to the thoughts of each character, but we do have access to some of their longings, musings, and wonderings. It seems these are present just to advance the whodunit aspect of the book. So, we will read about one of the detectives putting some of the pieces of the puzzle together, thinking that the murderer must be X. That's a fine tool to use, but it appears overused here. It got to be a bit much.
This was a fine book, but I'm not sure I'll read more of P.D. James. There are lots of other excellent books in the world to read.
James is a fine writer, but she used one narrative tool in this book of which I'm not a huge fan. The reader doesn't have complete access to the thoughts of each character, but we do have access to some of their longings, musings, and wonderings. It seems these are present just to advance the whodunit aspect of the book. So, we will read about one of the detectives putting some of the pieces of the puzzle together, thinking that the murderer must be X. That's a fine tool to use, but it appears overused here. It got to be a bit much.
This was a fine book, but I'm not sure I'll read more of P.D. James. There are lots of other excellent books in the world to read.
August 9, 2012
Couldn't even read this on the plane with no other books on me. I watched soccer on the tv instead. SOCCER was the better option, folks. Frankly finding it hard to understand why this woman is considered such an amazing mystery writer. The fourth time they reentered the church and the light coming through the windows was given four paragraphs I knew this wasn't for me.
April 4, 2020
DNF
At some point, I completely lost track of what this book is about. Cliches about the British upper classes abound.
At some point, I completely lost track of what this book is about. Cliches about the British upper classes abound.
December 4, 2015
P.D. James handles her plot line well, she avoids explicit sexual detail and keeps profanity to a minimum. She also solves her mysteries with logical explanations, which I like. However, this book suffers from an overdose of trivia, which bogs down the story and occupies a large percent of its 480 pages. She describes buildings and the rooms within those buildings in minute detail that has no relevance to the plot. Every room receives an account of each piece of furniture, its style, placement in the room, and the material from which it is made. We get descriptions of the wallpaper, the bookcases (often floor to ceiling—a feature I’ve never seen outside of movies), the bookcase contents, the art hanging on the walls, and the view from the windows.
Her tendency to pile on the detail goes beyond buildings. The book begins with an elderly woman and a young boy walking together to a church. We are given every detail of the path, the plants that grow along the way, their actions, the way they met, their customary schedule, and a lengthy description of the church.
I find her characters difficult to relate to, though that got better in the last 20% of the book. James’s hero, Adam Dalgliesh, is melancholy and aloof, and extremely unrealistic. James doesn’t mention his ability to leap tall buildings with a single bound, but he can recognize the period, artist and name of all the paintings or art prints in those over-described rooms, he discusses architectural detail knowledgably using correct architectural vocabulary, and he understands medical terminology that would go over the head of most normal non-medical mortals. The detail that I found most absurd was when he walked into a room, and within seconds identified the music being played as Telemann’s Viola Concerto in G, conducted by Neville Marriner. Really? Who, other than viola players, even listens to viola concertos? I have a degree in music, and I checked on Amazon to make sure that there was such a thing. To remember the key a piece is written in is rare in non-musicians, to recognize any piece composed by Telemann is not common even among musicians, and to think that anyone could recognize a conductor without reading the recording’s jacket is beyond belief.
Her tendency to pile on the detail goes beyond buildings. The book begins with an elderly woman and a young boy walking together to a church. We are given every detail of the path, the plants that grow along the way, their actions, the way they met, their customary schedule, and a lengthy description of the church.
I find her characters difficult to relate to, though that got better in the last 20% of the book. James’s hero, Adam Dalgliesh, is melancholy and aloof, and extremely unrealistic. James doesn’t mention his ability to leap tall buildings with a single bound, but he can recognize the period, artist and name of all the paintings or art prints in those over-described rooms, he discusses architectural detail knowledgably using correct architectural vocabulary, and he understands medical terminology that would go over the head of most normal non-medical mortals. The detail that I found most absurd was when he walked into a room, and within seconds identified the music being played as Telemann’s Viola Concerto in G, conducted by Neville Marriner. Really? Who, other than viola players, even listens to viola concertos? I have a degree in music, and I checked on Amazon to make sure that there was such a thing. To remember the key a piece is written in is rare in non-musicians, to recognize any piece composed by Telemann is not common even among musicians, and to think that anyone could recognize a conductor without reading the recording’s jacket is beyond belief.
July 25, 2020
I suppose this is my first P.D. James. I thought I had read something by James before, and perhaps I did, but this is definitely my first Adam Dalgliesh novel (which is the 7th in the series). From what I gather, Taste of Death may be the high point or one of the high points in the P.D. James catalogue. At 497 pages it's on the longish side, but James writes with a satisfying literary density that has me recalling another "genre" writer, John le Carré. Different sides of the street, for sure (particularly so, considering P.D. James' theological bent), but there is a matching seriousness at the core of both writers, which elevate their tale-telling.
In this chapter, Dalgleish is summoned to investigate the murder (or is it suicide?) of a former British PM in the vestry of an Anglican church. Nearby is an equally dead tramp. The dead PM holds the razor that did the deeds, but he apparently died (nearly beheaded) before the tramp. Complicating things is Dalgleish's previous relationship with the PM. Although they only knew each other slightly, it's the PM's apparent conversion experience (complete with possible stigmata) that intrigues, even moves, Dalgleish.
What follows is the methodical investigation of a cast of possible and often loathsome suspects. A cold and aged mother, a beautiful but air-headed widower, her partying actor-brother, a tired and faithless priest, a revolutionary or two, and other clever red herrings. I had no trouble spotting the murderer, probably because I was reminded of Caliban, and the literate James doesn't drop such a characterization lightly. That said, there is considerable murk regarding who else might be involved, and other deaths that need explaining by the cerebral Dalgleish and his capable team (who have their own problems). James is excellent at drawing characters, especially those eccentric British ones (I love Romance book writer). Published in 1986, you can't help but be reminded of what gray time it was in Thatcher Britain. Everyone seems a bit depressed, things are fraying and graying everywhere, and one can only sigh at the beautiful but ignored architecture, while knowing there's still a killer to be caught.
In this chapter, Dalgleish is summoned to investigate the murder (or is it suicide?) of a former British PM in the vestry of an Anglican church. Nearby is an equally dead tramp. The dead PM holds the razor that did the deeds, but he apparently died (nearly beheaded) before the tramp. Complicating things is Dalgleish's previous relationship with the PM. Although they only knew each other slightly, it's the PM's apparent conversion experience (complete with possible stigmata) that intrigues, even moves, Dalgleish.
What follows is the methodical investigation of a cast of possible and often loathsome suspects. A cold and aged mother, a beautiful but air-headed widower, her partying actor-brother, a tired and faithless priest, a revolutionary or two, and other clever red herrings. I had no trouble spotting the murderer, probably because I was reminded of Caliban, and the literate James doesn't drop such a characterization lightly. That said, there is considerable murk regarding who else might be involved, and other deaths that need explaining by the cerebral Dalgleish and his capable team (who have their own problems). James is excellent at drawing characters, especially those eccentric British ones (I love Romance book writer). Published in 1986, you can't help but be reminded of what gray time it was in Thatcher Britain. Everyone seems a bit depressed, things are fraying and graying everywhere, and one can only sigh at the beautiful but ignored architecture, while knowing there's still a killer to be caught.
June 9, 2017
I gave it 3 stars because of the writing that is beautiful, but I would prefer only 2 stars because it's becoming boring because of too many details
November 29, 2023
A Taste for Death features Commander Dalgliesh - PD James's favourite detective - and introduces Detective Inspector Kate Miskin, whose personality now seems, in certain respects, an extension of the private detective Cordelia Gray, who appeared in only two novels and was discreetly abandoned by the author for reasons unknown (to me).
A sordid murder - Are not all murders sordid ? - draws everyone's attention to the sacristy of St Matthew's Church, a fictional basilica in Paddington, where a tramp, Harry Mack, and a former minister and Conservative MP, Sir Paul Berowne, have been found with their throats slit by an old-fashioned, sharp-edged razor.
The police team's meticulous investigation sheds light on a number of suspects in the Baronet's entourage and the motives of those who may have been involved. The Dalgliesh hierarchy, under pressure from public opinion, urges the investigator, one of the very best at Scotland Yard, also a poet with a passion for classical literature and a keen eye for the darkest recesses of the human soul, to produce tangible evidence. But the investigators struggle to do so.
The trained eye of a crime novel reader will detect, early in the plot, the unfinished reflection of a character of apparently little significance, a reflection that proves essential in the last quarter of the novel, crucial for the denouement and resolution of the investigation. Yet the outcome is far from being predictable. Tracks first explored may lead to dead ends.
This well-written crime novel is a quality page-turner. PD James knows how to narrate, describe and report with precision the work and days of ordinary and extraordinary protagonists, exploring the twists and turns of everyday life and the frustrations that lead to the fatal act. The author skilfully balances procedures and interrogations, the personal reflections of the protagonists, and concrete situations from everyday life. Even places - whether fictional, like the church or the Berowne family's Sir John Sloane mansion in Camden Hill, or real, like Holland Park or the banks of the Thames - are beautifully, albeit unostentatiously, described.
The recurring characters in Baroness James's detective stories - Adam Dalgliesh above all, but eventually Kate and John Massingham - are endearing, with their qualities and insights, but also their flaws and their own private ghosts. Here, the prolific author offers a fine, realistic reading of the world around us, with a hint of subtle humour and a touch of poetry.
"London, laid out beneath him under a low ceiling of silver-grey cloud, looked eternal, rooted, domestic. He saw the panorama, of which he never tired, in terms of painting. Sometimes it had the softness and immediacy of watercolour; sometimes, in high summer, when the park burgeoned with greenness, it had the rich texture of oil. This morning it was a steel engraving, hard- edged, grey, one-dimensional."
(Book Five, chapter 6)
A sordid murder - Are not all murders sordid ? - draws everyone's attention to the sacristy of St Matthew's Church, a fictional basilica in Paddington, where a tramp, Harry Mack, and a former minister and Conservative MP, Sir Paul Berowne, have been found with their throats slit by an old-fashioned, sharp-edged razor.
The police team's meticulous investigation sheds light on a number of suspects in the Baronet's entourage and the motives of those who may have been involved. The Dalgliesh hierarchy, under pressure from public opinion, urges the investigator, one of the very best at Scotland Yard, also a poet with a passion for classical literature and a keen eye for the darkest recesses of the human soul, to produce tangible evidence. But the investigators struggle to do so.
The trained eye of a crime novel reader will detect, early in the plot, the unfinished reflection of a character of apparently little significance, a reflection that proves essential in the last quarter of the novel, crucial for the denouement and resolution of the investigation. Yet the outcome is far from being predictable. Tracks first explored may lead to dead ends.
This well-written crime novel is a quality page-turner. PD James knows how to narrate, describe and report with precision the work and days of ordinary and extraordinary protagonists, exploring the twists and turns of everyday life and the frustrations that lead to the fatal act. The author skilfully balances procedures and interrogations, the personal reflections of the protagonists, and concrete situations from everyday life. Even places - whether fictional, like the church or the Berowne family's Sir John Sloane mansion in Camden Hill, or real, like Holland Park or the banks of the Thames - are beautifully, albeit unostentatiously, described.
The recurring characters in Baroness James's detective stories - Adam Dalgliesh above all, but eventually Kate and John Massingham - are endearing, with their qualities and insights, but also their flaws and their own private ghosts. Here, the prolific author offers a fine, realistic reading of the world around us, with a hint of subtle humour and a touch of poetry.
"London, laid out beneath him under a low ceiling of silver-grey cloud, looked eternal, rooted, domestic. He saw the panorama, of which he never tired, in terms of painting. Sometimes it had the softness and immediacy of watercolour; sometimes, in high summer, when the park burgeoned with greenness, it had the rich texture of oil. This morning it was a steel engraving, hard- edged, grey, one-dimensional."
(Book Five, chapter 6)
February 24, 2021
I first heard of P. D. James when I was at a bookstore and picked this massive book I'd never heard of from a shelf to look at it. When I saw it was a detective novel, my first reaction was: how the hell could a mystery novel be like 600+ pages? How could it even be possible to sustain the level of mystery and tension for that long a page count? It was just weirdly inconceivable to me at that point, but interesting nonetheless.
Anyway, when I started reading James properly I did it in chronological order -- kind of out of my fear of long books, but also because I thought it'd be interesting to track the growth of her ambition from novel to novel. And I'm glad I did, because each book has been getting better and better. But now I decided to take a leap forward in the series and tackle the longest one yet, a novel truly of her peak mature period.
And it's brilliant. An absolute masterpiece.
Every qualm I had all that time ago about mystery being sustained for so long a plot has been answered, because the plot isn't even that long -- it's all about the detail. James is not just a phenomenal crime writer, but also a phenomenal novelist full stop in the astounding levels of attention she gives absolutely everything. There is literally no character in the entire story, no matter how minor, who doesn't have an incredibly richly drawn backstory or personal character, done even in just a few lines. Every setting is as depthful as if you've been there yourself. The prose is verbose and literate but never oppressive. And the plot is so well-maintained and sustained that the page count flies by like nothing.
If you're reared on American or hardboiled crime like I was you might find the level of detail distracting or even kind of boring (and let's just say I'm really glad I didn't start with this book either -- my reaction a year or two ago might've been a lot different). But I was just so drawn into the world of the story that there were hardly any digressions to me at all. Everything had a purpose and every turn of the story felt natural.
If I had one criticism it might be that the reveal of the mystery doesn't quite pay off the level of intrigue that had been built up over the preceding 600 pages (and I touched on this in my last James review too that as a mystery writer she's not quite as adept at crafting a truly surprising twist reveal as many of her peers), but that's only a judgement put up against the confines of its genre. Stories are relative, not absolute. And as a story, and as a piece of literature, this was truly near perfect for me. Friggin masterpiece of its class.
Anyway, when I started reading James properly I did it in chronological order -- kind of out of my fear of long books, but also because I thought it'd be interesting to track the growth of her ambition from novel to novel. And I'm glad I did, because each book has been getting better and better. But now I decided to take a leap forward in the series and tackle the longest one yet, a novel truly of her peak mature period.
And it's brilliant. An absolute masterpiece.
Every qualm I had all that time ago about mystery being sustained for so long a plot has been answered, because the plot isn't even that long -- it's all about the detail. James is not just a phenomenal crime writer, but also a phenomenal novelist full stop in the astounding levels of attention she gives absolutely everything. There is literally no character in the entire story, no matter how minor, who doesn't have an incredibly richly drawn backstory or personal character, done even in just a few lines. Every setting is as depthful as if you've been there yourself. The prose is verbose and literate but never oppressive. And the plot is so well-maintained and sustained that the page count flies by like nothing.
If you're reared on American or hardboiled crime like I was you might find the level of detail distracting or even kind of boring (and let's just say I'm really glad I didn't start with this book either -- my reaction a year or two ago might've been a lot different). But I was just so drawn into the world of the story that there were hardly any digressions to me at all. Everything had a purpose and every turn of the story felt natural.
If I had one criticism it might be that the reveal of the mystery doesn't quite pay off the level of intrigue that had been built up over the preceding 600 pages (and I touched on this in my last James review too that as a mystery writer she's not quite as adept at crafting a truly surprising twist reveal as many of her peers), but that's only a judgement put up against the confines of its genre. Stories are relative, not absolute. And as a story, and as a piece of literature, this was truly near perfect for me. Friggin masterpiece of its class.
April 9, 2019
My goodness. I must be getting crankier and more impatient by the week!. P.D. James (Nora Roberts) spends pages and pages and pages and then some more pages describing rooms, windows, window dressings, statues, views, portraits, paintings, music, elevators, bookcases, clothing, balconies, facades, paths, flowers, hair styles, cars, doors, Norman architecture, Victorian architecture, food, the weather, accents, gossip, eye color, embraces, physical features, family history, health, upholstery, &ct. &ct that I just can't stand it anymore.
Also, she uses this very strange dialogue device, as in
Dalgliesh said:
He said:
She added:
She said:
I am declaring that the priest did it (given the dried blood in his nose observed by Miss Wharton, and the lipstick stain he tried to hide from Mrs. McBride.) He was convinced to do it by the wife, who did not want the husband to change his will in favor of the unborn son. That's my story and I am sticking to it (even if I refuse to finish the book to see if it is true.)
Also, she uses this very strange dialogue device, as in
Dalgliesh said:
He said:
She added:
She said:
I am declaring that the priest did it (given the dried blood in his nose observed by Miss Wharton, and the lipstick stain he tried to hide from Mrs. McBride.) He was convinced to do it by the wife, who did not want the husband to change his will in favor of the unborn son. That's my story and I am sticking to it (even if I refuse to finish the book to see if it is true.)
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