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Omnibus: Cover Her Face / A Mind To Murder / Shroud For A Nightingale
Includes:
Cover Her Face
A Mind To Murder
Shroud for a Nightingale
Cover Her Face
A Mind To Murder
Shroud for a Nightingale
760 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
5 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
About the author
P.D. James
322 books3,253 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 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 15, 2011
P.D. James always comes up as a recommended mystery writer, and I had a hankering for a mystery, so I decided to check out her longest running detective, Adam Dalgleish. All the single editions of the first book were checked out, so I got this omnibus edition, and of course I felt compelled to read all 3. I'm glad I did, too, because I liked the 3rd one best. The first 2 are good literary puzzles. James does that thing where you're in 2nd person but the narrator takes on the voice of the character gradually, without going into first person. It's hard to do, and she does it well. So her mysteries are like ensemble character studies of whichever place each murder occurs. The 3rd one really hits its stride, though. It has more atmosphere and I felt like James was more confident in characterizing Dalgleish. But I wish she'd describe the physical characteristics of everyone. She picks and chooses.
I try not to guess the killer when I read mysteries because I am either totally wrong or I guess the killer and then change my mind and get frustrated when I learn I was right in the first place. It's hard not to guess when you're reading these because everyone in the book is talking and guessing, but I didn't feel compelled to put all my chips on one suspect, and I liked that.
I learned a word, too: exophthalmic. James has a thing for blondes with protruding eyes. Apparently.
I try not to guess the killer when I read mysteries because I am either totally wrong or I guess the killer and then change my mind and get frustrated when I learn I was right in the first place. It's hard not to guess when you're reading these because everyone in the book is talking and guessing, but I didn't feel compelled to put all my chips on one suspect, and I liked that.
I learned a word, too: exophthalmic. James has a thing for blondes with protruding eyes. Apparently.
August 1, 2011
very good.
October 8, 2011
she reigns in character development within a mystery plot line!
September 9, 2023
3.5 stars. Slightly dated classic English murder mystery. English manor house, a family with fading wealth, household staff, weekend visitors - and a corpse. Whodunit? Imperturbable Inspector Dalgleish will figure it out. It didn’t make me want to run out and read the rest of the series.
May 26, 2017
Only took this out from the library for the first book. It was a little slow to get going, but a pretty good mystery novel. Look forward to reading the other books in the series.
August 23, 2019
Excellent first mystery from an author whose talent is inherent. It’s a locked room conundrum that keeps the reader working throughout the exquisitely crafted text. James can bring out the essence of a character, a scene, or a situation in one terse sentence. I’m now reading her second mystery, A Mind To Murder and will not be getting much sleep tonight.
January 5, 2011
Got this tome of three great British Mysteries in the style of Agatha Christie and Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle for $1 at Strand Books a couple days ago along with a dozen more including
The Boat
, a collection of shorts by Nam Le and
Hide and Seek
, by Clare Sambrook, which were slightly more than $5. Gotta love Strand!!!
I'm only on 42 of Cover Her Eyes , which seems great so far building up suspects and outlining all the love/hate relationships, but I'm only reading this one at home between three others....
I'm only on 42 of Cover Her Eyes , which seems great so far building up suspects and outlining all the love/hate relationships, but I'm only reading this one at home between three others....
April 13, 2010
If you like old-style detective stories, you'd like this. I don't, so I didn't.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews