English Mysteries Club discussion

Here is the thread to discuss our monthly group read for September, which is A Mind to Murder by P.D. James. It is the second in her popular series about the detective Adam Dalgleish, and was written in 1963.

Reading and discussion of the text begins on 1st September. Who's joining in with this one?

Oh nice to see it got picked. :)

Was it your nomination, Isa? I think I read it a long time ago, but can't remember anything about it! Quite useful when planning a reread :)

I've never read anything by P.D. James, so I'm curious about it. I'll order a copy at my library.

Yep, Jean, it was. Looking forwardvto re-reading it again. I read it first many years back.

I hope it's just as enjoyable :)

Adam Dalgliesh is one of my favorite detectives so am really looking forward to this re-read.

Hoping to find a copy of this!

Finished re-reading it last week. I first read it many years ago but found that I remembered it quite well. I'm looking forward to learning what others think.

This read begins today! I hope everyone enjoys this intriguing mystery :)

I read all of the Adam Dalgliesh novels many years ago and loved them. P D James seemed like more than a "detective novelist." I always told people that she was "a great writer" -- probably the best among modern writers of murder mysteries. Interestingly, I didn't enjoy this one nearly as much the second time around, and I didn't find Dalgliesh to be as attractive a character as I did the first time.

Did anyone else who read "A Mind to Murder" for the second time have a similar reaction?

Joan wrote: "P D James seemed like more than a "detective novelist."..."

I completely agree Joan. The first one I read was A Taste for Death when it was quite new, and I thought wow, I didn't think detective novelists wrote like this! Rounded characters, a sense of place ... and just so well written it felt like a modern literary novel.

Bionic Jean wrote: "Joan wrote: "P D James seemed like more than a "detective novelist."..."

I completely agree Joan. The first one I read was A Taste for Death when it was quite new, and I thought wow, I didn't think detective novelists wrote like this! Rounded characters, a sense of place ... and just so well written it felt like a modern literary novel."

Did you have the same reaction when you re-read it for this monthly discussion?

I haven't yet! Officially we only started yesterday ... but this garnered 37 votes, so plenty of people may have a view :)

Looking forward to it!

I'm going to start this soon as I've just finished reading Cover Her Face.

Oh good! That's a good idea Lynnie, as it's the next one :)

Just started it. This is the first time that I read P.D. James, so I go blindly about it. I hope to enjoy it.

I hope so too Miriam :)

So sorry, but I don't like it. I found it a little bit boring and I dismissed it. I'm looking forward to our next novel.

Ah, never mind!

I'm kind of with Miriam. I also find James boring. I made myself get through a couple (out of order) but finally gave up on "Cover Her Face." There is this old rule that writers talk about "show, don't tell" - for me, there is just too much tell-tell-tell in James.

I hadn't planned to make the time to re-read "A Mind to Murder" this month given the number of other books I have on my September TBR. But I'm curious about the reactions of others who have found James to be less appealing upon re-reading. A while back I re-read Innocent Blood and enjoyed that as much as I had originally.

So I will join in this discussion once I finish Oh, William! (When you find a book on sale the same day it is short-listed for the Booker, it's a sign that you have to drop everything and read it...)

Oh good! I'm curious too, as sometimes I have the same reaction as I did decades ago, and other times not so much.

Bonus points! A found a copy at the library. I hope to start over the weekend.

Well, I have just finished, it was a reread for me and I also found that it wasn't great. There wasn't much detective work and I found Dalgliesh to be too melancholy. I didn't find any of the characters redeeming which also didn't help.

I have always loved P.D James so this is disapponting to go back and not enjoy! I will continue with rereading the series though.

I have just finished re reading this. I guess the last time, I read this was over 30 years ago- which has made me feel old. I know I had read it before as I have read all of this series, and found an old copy on the bookshelf. I couldn’t remember the story- but I did enjoy it, I think I enjoy the characterisation of Dalgliesh as much as anything- he is probably one of favourite fictional detectives. On reread I did find it rather dated now, which is to be expected and I enjoyed her work more as the series progressed.

Sorry meant to say Dalgliesh is one of my favourites- my two absolute favourites are Marple and Morse.

Not finished yet, but I'm enjoying my re-read so far. Like Jane, I read this 30+ years ago, and that awareness joins everything else that makes me feel old lately! But so far I'm enjoying James' sly comments on the characters as I always do in her books. She is so good at illuminating people indirectly via little things in their appearance or behavior.

And I always do love a locked room mystery. I hope to be done by the end of the day.

Very interesting to see that some others in this group are finding "A Mind to Murder" less satisfying as a re-read than they did as a first-read many years ago. Exactly my reaction.

Dalgliesh himself was less interesting a character to me this time around.

I think that if I thought this book was written later in the series, I might have been disappointed in it. Knowing that it was the second had me give it something of the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes authors seem to take a while before they hit their stride with a series. If I had started Louise Penny's Gamache series (which I adore) with the first book rather than in the middle, I might not have continued. Initially she didn't seem to know quite what she wanted to do with her characters; that came in the third book if I recall correctly.

Getting back to this book: It's definitely not as good as some of the later entries, but enjoyable anyway. It might be that back when it was first written (and even when I first read it about 10 years later), there just weren't that many mysteries featuring detectives with inner lives, and where the author clearly took delight in, well, writing! And it may be that remembering James as an iconoclast of that era inclines me to be more generous in my responses than I might have been otherwise.

As always, I adored her characterizations. These people, regardless of how annoying they may be, nevertheless jump off the page. Even though they are 60 years in the past, they seem quite vivid to me.

And I found the plotting enjoyable as well, especially Dalgliesh's sense of foreboding, in contrast to the ultimate outcome of the story.

I'm glad I took the opportunity to revisit PD James via this group read. I'll have to remember to pick up another volume at some point.

"Sometimes authors seem to take a while before they hit their stride with a series."

"there just weren't that many mysteries featuring detectives with inner lives,"

I agree with both of these observations, Barbara. P.D. James was the first author I read in the genre, who seemed to have created something other than a whodunnit.

As a long-time Christie fan, and having recently enjoyed the show “Dalgliesh” on AcornTV, I was looking forward to reading my first Dalgliesh book (and my first read with this group)
I wouldn’t say it was disappointing, but it didn’t make me want to drop everything to read the next one. Many other commenters here were more articulate with their thought than I, but I particularly agreed with one; the reader who would have liked more show, less tell. I think that sums it up! (Mind you, I haven’t written off Dalgliesh completely, or James for that matter, but will keep in mind that later books may be more meeting my expectations). Thanks for all of your helpful comments!

Now if I could only get my hands on a copy of the book for the October read!

Finished rereading. Still found it interesting although I did find it a tad outdated, understandably. But Adam Dalgliesh is one of the more interesting fictional detectives, I think, especially as his character develops through the series.

This was my first P.D James book but had seen a few of the Dalgliesh episodes. A fair read, just as interesting was the widespread use of LSD for medicine then and the somewhat still small doctors office that gets promptly split up, some social commentary by the author, who knows? Looks like on the original dust cover they had a picture of a Fetish, otherwise I had no idea!