Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our fourth challenge book, Shroud for a Nightingale by P.D. James.

The young women of Nightingale House are there to learn to nurse and comfort the suffering. But when one of the students plays patient in a demonstration of nursing skills, she is horribly, brutally killed. It is up to Adam Dalgliesh to unmask a killer who has decided to prescribe murder as the cure for all ills.

Please do not post spoilers in this thread. Thank you.

Opening up our latest challenge book for discussion - thank you, Susan, for setting up the threads for this and our group read!

Who is joining in on this one? I haven't started yet but will do so soon and am looking forward to it.

I will read this. It’s interesting to see how the series is developing.

For me, P.D. James really stepped up a pace with this mystery. Loved the setting, the characters and thought it was James really getting into her own style.

Susan wrote: "For me, P.D. James really stepped up a pace with this mystery. Loved the setting, the characters and thought it was James really getting into her own style."

That’s good to know. I was planning to start reading it tomorrow.

I'm planning to start reading it today - I like the idea of it being set in a nurse training school, a setting that James seems to know well based on A Mind To Murder.

Yes, indeed, she worked for the NHS for many years, so she was very comfortable in that setting.

I love the glimpses we get of social differences between the 1970s and now. Miss Beale thinking she's getting arthritis: 'Well, it was to be expected. She was forty-nine after all. It was time she took life a little more gently.'

I guess life expectancy was lower than it is now but even so, 49 seems young to be feeling old.

49 seems young to be getting arthritis.

Nursing is a very physical occupation and the joints may wear out quicker (I have no medical knowledge). The vast increase of male nurses has been beneficial. They are often called in for the heavy lifting.

That's true, Sandy. I was thinking of the psychology of age, I guess: it just struck me that a healthy 49 year old woman today is much less likely to be feeling that she's reached an age where she needs to start slowing down - she could well have young kids/step-kids/a career/be dating. I enjoy these little glimpses into the differences of the past.

This was written after the advent of the teenager though. Before then, people seem to leap from childhood, straight into adulthood. Although, I doubt they did really. I still don't seem to have made it into adulthood, even though I'm well into middle age!

Yes, good point about teenagers - age really is a cultural construction.

I started this last night and found the murder horrific: James really has cast off the 'cosy' roots of her fiction here.

Susan wrote: "This was written after the advent of the teenager though. Before then, people seem to leap from childhood, straight into adulthood. Although, I doubt they did really. I still don't seem to have mad..."

This was first published in 1971. The "teenager" had been around for at least a couple of decades. Women might have been thinking they were getting long in the tooth at 49 back in the 50s, but that was pretty much by the wayside by 1970.

I started this two days' ago. Really enjoying the setting and the first murder is quite horrific.

I like James' hospital settings and she does storms really well. It took me a while to get the characters straightened out. I should really take notes as they are introduced.

Nightingale Hospital is the term used for the emergency critical care hospitals being set up as part of the response to the Coronavirus. Making this more topical (as is the response to the 'flu' going round the nursing school).

I’ve read about a third of this book now & am enjoying it - so far, it’s much better than the previous books in the series. I agree with those who commented on the horrific murder - very clever writing, I suspect at the time it was considered even more shocking than we find it now. A lot of the story seems almost timeless, then there’s a detailed description of the nurses’ uniform as a sudden reminder that it is definitely set many years ago. Things have changed so much - for example, the young nurse not needing to finish her training as she was getting married soon.

Trisha wrote: "there’s a detailed description of the nurses’ uniform as a sudden reminder that it is definitely set many years ago. "

I noticed all of the caps and their differences.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Trisha wrote: "there’s a detailed description of the nurses’ uniform as a sudden reminder that it is definitely set many years ago. "

I noticed all of the caps and their differences."

Yes, definitely the caps! I remember a friend saying how long it took to learn to fold the caps correctly. Also the fabric for their dresses, when the colours, as now, denoted their status. But dresses? - can’t remember when they stopped wearing them, they seem to have worn scrubs for years.

Dalgleish is now on the scene and starting interviews. I'm finding myself reminded of Enid Blyton's Malory Towers series which I loved as a child: something about the institution being run by a formidable head in matron, and with the sisters/nursing students being the teachers/pupils. I'm just waiting now for all the secrets to come pouring out!

This is the first time that I am reading the series in order. I've read all of them over the years and I am enjoying the development of the series and the author. You can see the progress in her writing style, character development and plots.

I've started this and am listening to the audible version read by Daniel Weyman as well as reading the Kindle book - I was pleased to see I could get the audible version cheaply because I have the Kindle book! A good start and I'm intrigued by the hospital atmosphere, which seems very convincing.

I listened to the Audible version too, Judy, and liked the narrator.

The atmosphere of all the students reminds me a bit of the teacher training college in Miss Pym Disposes, although this book was published around 25 years later and we are into the 70s.

Yes, I think I mentioned earlier that this does feel as though it is set in a much earlier time - or perhaps James was going for a more nostalgic feel?

In lots of ways, I agree, her books feel like throwbacks to an earlier time - until there's a sudden nod to something 'modern' like the unmarried mother in the first book or the discussion of changes to abortion laws.

This is taking me a little while to get through, but I am still enjoying it - just keep being distracted by other things! Hope to finish soon.

Susan - I agree with you that James really gets into her stride with this book. The mystery element works really well, but there are also other great elements that I’ll say something about in the spoiler thread.