121 of 127 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of her best, November 19, 2008
PD James fans are in for a treat in this finely crafted murder mystery. The set up is familiar: a murder occurs in a closed community; it looks like an inside job, which means there are only a handful of suspects -- but that doesn't make it easier for AD and his usual team to crack the case.
James gives us great characterization -- the opinions, desires and weaknesses are gradually revealed as the plot proceeds, and no character is superfluous. We learn more about our favorite characters: AD and Emma Lavenham are planning their wedding, Kate Miskin has broken up with Piers and Benton is developing into a more interesting character.
At the same time, James' weaves in a gorgeous portrayal of the Dorset countryside, making it part of the fabric of the storyline. Having lived there for a couple of years, this book perfectly captures the images, sounds and even smells of one of the most beautiful parts of England.
The plotting is intricate with many layers. Even if you guess whodunnit, there are layers upon layers of devices and desires so that at the end, everything has fallen into place, meshing perfectly with the characters and revealing hidden depths.
Without giving the end away, PD James also finishes up several character storylines. If she were never to write another book, the series would have reached a satisfying conclusion with this great work of fiction. A real treat and immensely enjoyable.
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57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best things get better with age..., November 20, 2008
This is not P.D. James's finest mystery novel.
That said, even something that is a notch below this wonderful writer's prime still stands head and shoulders above most of what is being produced by the vast majority of her peers. Her writing, her careful attention to detail, her descriptive powers have only improved with age.
So, too, have the deductive skills of Adam Dalgliesh, many decades after he made his first appearance in the novels penned by this doyenne of crime. He remains as intriguing and occasionally enigmatic figure as ever, although James gives us more carefully-judged glimpses into his inner life than I can recall in any previous novel.
In this outing (hopefully not his final one...), Dalgliesh investigates one of his classic conundrums: a murder that could only have been committed by one of a closed circle of suspects. (That backdrop, typical of James's mysteries, enables her to delve deeply into character and motivation, which is what, together with her writing, transforms this from an ordinary whondunnit into a fabulous read.) Rhoda Gradwyn has finally decided, at the age of 47, to have the disfiguring scar on her face removed at the manor house/clinic run by a noted plastic surgeon. The operation is a success -- but the patient dies. It's murder, and Dalgliesh and his team are summoned to find out who had the most compelling motive to want this muck-racking journalist dead.
It is a mark of the strength of James's characters that we feel compassion for everyone from the victim -- hoping to leave behind some of her internal scars along with the visible one on her face -- to the murderer. A second death raises the stakes still further and Dalgliesh -- on the eve of achieving personal happiness -- must battle to ensure that the case is resolved while doing as little damage as possible to the many other damaged individuals who people the world of Cheverell Manor.
I found the identity of the murderer perhaps a little easier to pick up before the final revelations than in James's prior books, and could argue that perhaps the narrative dragged in a handful of places. Still, set against such high-calibre writing -- not a single false note throughout -- those feel like minor quibbles and even voicing them risks making me feel curmudgeonly.
PD James has produced yet another novel that leads the crime fiction genre and, in parts, transcends it. While Ruth Rendell's Wexford novels are wonderful, they are more procedural, and her psychological suspense novels, while excellent, are too extreme for the reader to feel at ease with them in the same way that we do with Dalgliesh and his fellow characters. Each of the latter are human, and it is those human foibles that lead to the crime itself. While solving the crime is the raison d'etre of the book, it is again James's ability to address human nature that ultimately takes center stage.
As always, I finished this book wishing that I hadn't yet read it, so that I'd have the pleasure of discovering it for the first time. My only wish now is that P.D. James becomes a healthy centenarian and continues crafting her works for decades more. I'd love it if Adam Dalgliesh didn't take his well-earned retirement, but if he does, I'm confident that the author can come up with an equally compelling protagonist for another series...
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107 of 117 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
46 Years And Counting...., November 18, 2008
In Cheverell Manor, an exclusive cosmetic surgery clinic on the remote Dorset moors, a patient has been murdered. Not just any patient: Rhoda Gradwyn was an investigative journalist, a purveyor of private secrets and sensational scandals for the "yellow" media. Anyone might have wanted her dead, given the opportunity, but Cheverell Manor is locked and guarded, reducing the suspect list to the odd group of eccentrics who were with her at the time. There are about a dozen of them--doctors, nurses, administrators, staff, and one other patient--and they all have something to hide. Fortunately for the cause of justice (and unfortunately for the killer), Commander Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard has been sent out from London to look into the matter....
Some things just get better with age, and P. D. James's wonderful chronicle of Adam Dalgliesh is one of them. We first met him in 1962's COVER HER FACE, and THE PRIVATE PATIENT is his 14th adventure so far, making this the longest-running current British mystery series. There are indications throughout this story that it may be the last Dalgliesh novel. Let's hope and pray that it isn't. There's no other detective like Adam Dalgliesh, and there's no other mystery writer like the great P. D. James. Highly, highly recommended.
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