Devices and Desires (Adam Dalgliesh Mystery Series #8) [Hardcover]

P. D. James (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 1992

National Bestseller 

Featuring the famous Commander Adam Dalgliesh, Devices and Desires is a thrilling and insightfully crafted novel of fallible people caught in a net of secrets, ambitions, and schemes on a lonely stretch of Norfolk coastline.

Commander Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard has just published a new book of poems and has taken a brief respite from publicity on the remote Larksoken headland on the Norfolk coast in a converted windmill left to him by his aunt. But he cannot so easily escape murder. A psychotic strangler of young women is at large in Norfolk, and getting nearer to Larksoken with every killing. And when Dalgliesh discovers the murdered body of the Acting Administrative Officer on the beach, he finds himself caught up in the passions and dangerous secrets of the headland community and in one of the most baffling murder cases of his career.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

James ( A Taste for Death ) sets her 11th novel on Larksoken, a remote windswept headland in Norfolk, where the presence of a huge nuclear energy plant serves as a metaphor for the power of the past to rule over her characters. Commander Adam Dalgliesh of New Scotland Yard, in Larsoken to settle an estate left him at the death of a relative, is drawn into the investigation of a serial killer, the Whistler. Dalgliesh's neighbors include the power station's director, Alex Mair; his elegant sister Alice, a cookbook author; acting administrator--and Alex's former lover--Hilary Robarts; and anti-nuclear activist Neil Pascoe. The next signature killing , of the widely disliked Robarts, turns out to have occurred hours after a young man who firmly establishes his identity as the Whistler commits suicide. The question of who murdered Robarts, then, centers around motive. This intricate, layered mystery may be read as parable: we can escape the consequences of our choices, political and personal, no more than we can shed our private histories. This is dark James, plotted with a slight unevenness but utterly faithful to her deeply and sympathetically plumbed characters. 175,000 first printing; BOMC and QPB main selections.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

While the serial killer known as the Whistler goes about his grisly business in the area around the Larksoken Nuclear Power Station, Commander Adam Dalgliesh comes to Norfolk to settle his aunt's estate. Slowly, through masses of dialog and ruminations by most of the characters, the complex plot unfolds into the usual Jamesian tangle of human relationships and subplots. The story takes shape as James unwraps each nuance of personality, each intricate piece of the puzzle. Though not as fast paced as Shroud for a Nightingale (LJ 1/1/72) nor as finely plotted as A Taste for Death ( LJ 10/1/86), this latest novel demonstrates just how well James commands the English language and illustrates her considerable ability to craft and write a novel. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/89; BOMC and Quality Paperback Book Club main selections.
- Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Random House Value Publishing (August 11, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517088460
• ISBN-13: 978-0517088463
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,559,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

P. D. James is the author of twenty previous books, most of which have been filmed and broadcast on television in the United States and other countries. She spent thirty years in various departments of the British Civil Service, including the Police and Criminal Law Departments of Great Britain's Home Office. She has served as a magistrate and as a governor of the BBC. In 2000 she celebrated her eightieth birthday and published her autobiography, Time to Be in Earnest. The recipient of many prizes and honors, she was created Baroness James of Holland Park in 1991 and was inducted into the International Crime Writing Hall of Fame in 2008. She lives in London and Oxford.

Photo credit Ulla Montan

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Intelligent and Realistic Mystery from James, July 8, 2004

By 

Gypsi Phillips Bates "bilbiophile" (Tennessee) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Devices and Desires (Adam Dalgliesh Mysteries, No. 8) (Paperback)

Adam Dalgliesh has come to the Norfolk headland, Larksoken, to finalize the property left to him by his recently deceased aunt. He is on unofficial business, and not there to help the local officials sort out the case of the serial killer known as The Whistler. Though touted as "An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery", it is not really. He is a minor character, there more to give continuity than to contribute to the novel.

Dalgliesh stumbles on a murdered victim, copycat-killed to look like The Whistler's work and becomes the sounding block for Inspector Rickards as he sorts through the likely candidates and motives. The victim is not well-liked and therefore the list of suspects would be rather large except for one thing: The Whistler's particular signature was known by only a few people.

As is unique in this genre and yet typical of all P. D. James novels, the characters are well-rounded and well-known before the actual murder takes place. (It was page 154 before the crucial murder was committed.) James delves deep into the mind of these people, and I felt I knew them--even cared for some of them--and was disturbed as I saw bits and pieces of evidence. There were several characters that I just did NOT want to be the murderer!

Also typical of James is the realism and complexity of the plot and characters. I have yet to have read a mystery by her that did not satisfy me as a reader, and yet at the same time stirred my emotions in some fashion. I vividly remember one of her novels, in which the perpetrator did not come to justice. I agonized over that one for days. Devices and Desires does not have anything that traumatic, but still left me hung-over in the plot for a day or two later.

On a side note, in this novel Larksoken is home to a nuclear power plant. Written in 1989, James uses this as her vehicle to air both sides of the nuclear power question. It is intelligently done and she reaches no conclusion, gives neither side her full approval.

I can not recommend P. D. James highly enough to anyone who enjoys mysteries. She writes an intelligent, entertaining, realistic novel involving characters that come alive. Devices and Desires was no different and despite a lack of Dalgliesh persona, was another excellent read that kept me turning pages well past midnight.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly original fare, June 3, 2005

By 

K. Huff (Radnor, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Devices and Desires (Adam Dalgliesh Mysteries, No. 8) (Paperback)

Many people want Hilary Robarts dead. First of all, there's Ryan Blaney, the struggling artist and single father who she has been trying to evict from his cottage. Then there's Alex Mair, her former lover, who won't marry her and wants her out of the way so he can move to London. And finally, there's Neil Pascoe, against whom Hilary Robarts has drawn up a libel lawsuit. Which one of these people, if any, actually killed her?

On September 25th, Robarts' body is found on the beach by no less than Adam Dalgiesh, in Norfolk to deal with the personal effects of his aunt, who has recently passed away. The death is suspiciously simlar to the deaths of several other young women killed by someone dubbed "The Whistler." However, Hilary's death is different- someone has broken into her cottage.

"The Whistler," so called because he (or she) has been known to whistle after the deaths of his victims. He stalks only at night, and kills only young women. The manner in which he kills the women is too graphic to be discussed here. It is soon obvious that the Whistler has a mission and a goal- and that is the Larksoken power station, an anathema to many people in the Larksoken community. Are the Whistler's killings related to the death of Hilary Robarts? Or is her death a more personal matter?

P.D. James is one of my favorite mystery writers because she pays attention to the histories of each of her characters- from Adam Dalgliesh, who lost his wife at childbirth, to Alex and Alice Mair, brother and sister, who share a very dark secret between them. James knows her characters inside and out, which makes her books such a joy to read. She also knows the complexities of human nature, so that the death of a character is no surprise- for example, in Devices and Desires, James set it up so that we would all know beforehand who would be killed. Yet the way in which the crime is solved is intricate. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to read mysteries.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of her best, August 5, 2001

By 

R.J. (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Devices and Desires (Adam Dalgliesh Mystery Series #8) (Paperback)

P.D. James is not simply a "whodunit?" type of writer, she adds so much cynicism and insight that her books have so much depth as a result. Adam Dalgleish is visiting his late aunt's windmill and cottage and is drawn into a murder spree revolving around the East Anglian seaside. The nuclear power plant dominates the scene, and casts a gloomy shadow over the setting of the novel. James is as incisive as ever, studying the motivations of all the suspects involved, but also peering disturbingly into their personal lives and all the inner demons which haunt many of them. Certainly there are many red herrings in this book, it adds to the enjoyment, and the ending was unexpected (which is something I always expect from P.D. James!) James is unsentimental in her portrayals; the misguided Hilary Robarts, the secret between the Mair siblings, Meg's escaping from the political correctness of her previous life, Blaney's wretched existence with four children, the somewhat pathetic anti-nuclear pamphleteer, and so on. The minor characters, from some of the early victims of the Whistler, to the Sgt. Oliphant of the local police who would be a scary fellow to be interrogated by, come to life in these pages and again add much depth to this novel. If one is starting out with P.D. James, this book is a great place to start. It's where I did, and I've read them all since I was captivated this first time.