Customer Reviews

Shroud for a Nightingale

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Adam Dalgliesh investigates the murders of two young student nurses at Nightingale House, the former by intra-gastric poisoning, the second by nicotine poisoning. His detective work leads him into a chilling world of deception, long-buried secrets, repressed sexuality, and blackmail among an almost exclusively female list of suspects.

This is James at her most provocative, her most intriguing, and her most thrilling. The plot is one of her most brilliantly conceived--not only are there plenty of well-laid clues and red herrings, but the murderer's true identity comes as a surprising twist. James' plot construction is even more sound than usual--everything fits perfectly. But anyone who reads a James novel knows that there's more to her books than just a satisfying mystery. She offers the reader a lot to think about--the motive behind the murders is both shocking and thought-provoking, and Dalgliesh is written with great sensitivity and complexity as a human being! . His subordinate, Sergeant Masterson, is a rather unsavory but interesting character, and the suspects are all extremely well-developed and vividly drawn. The setting, a dark, lonely nurse training school with a frightening history, creates atmosphere and adds suspense to an already suspenseful plot.

Read this book--you won't be disappointed.

With her fourth Adam Dalgliesh novel, "Shroud for a Nightingale," P. D James ventured into new and dark territory, both in terms of the mystery and underlying themes.

The first three novels in the Dalgliesh canon were, for the most part, traditional mystery novels with characters who you sensed were complex human beings, but who were never fleshed out entirely, as if to do so would be violating the "rules" of the detective story.

With "Shroud for a Nightingale," however, P. D. James introduced us into the dark world of Nightingale House, where nurses, nursing students, physicians, and patients suddenly find a double murderer in their midst.

This is the first of P. D. James's novels in which the characters' pasts are truly made to bear on the present. By the end of the novel, we are terrified at the bounds of loyalty and deception to which our fellow human beings are capable.

The terror in "Shroud for a Nightingale" is there from the start, as the first victim-to-be meets a demise that, simply put, is worthy of a horror novel. Such horror, when expressed in James's elegant prose, becomes even more frightening.

Shroud for a Nightingale is a well-written, well-plotted mystery that will keep you guessing. A young student nurse dies during a training exercise, another is found dead in her bed. The first could have been the result of a practical joke gone bad, the second, a suicide. Or they both could be murder. P.D. James will keep you guessing until the end as to the truth about these deaths and the truth about the nurses, the doctors, the instructors at this very deadly hospital.

Shroud for a Nightingale is a fair book. If you take into account that it was written early in James' career, you might judge it less harshly as it seems she has learned from her mistakes.

What mistakes? James relies too much in giving her suspects prescience in anticipating Chief Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh's next question. All too frequently his interrogations are punctuated with lines like "as if reading Dalgliesh's mind, Nurse Dakers said..." or "Sister Rolfe said ... as if Dalgliesh had spoken his thoughts aloud." Once or twice would be one thing, or at least allowing Dalgliesh to keep mum to prompt the suspect to fill the awkward silence with an unintended comment, but the frequency of the "psychic" segue makes it feel like sloppy writing. Another thing James does several times is have Dalgliesh run an unspecified deduction by his sergeant to which the sergeant graciously allows that "it might've happened that way." Again, it's sloppy and perhaps even out and out cheating.

Despite these rather appalling weaknesses, James' writing at times is as strong as in her more recent masterpieces. Sergeant Masterson's interrogation a la sadistic tango is wonderful, as is Dalgliesh's attempt to interrogate the housekeeper, Martha Collins. Her pacing is spot on in both cases and in the latter case, her ear for dialect - and ability to transcribe it intelligibly - is amazing. The spooky setting and overall mood of Nightingale house, while perhaps clichéd at times (the wandering ghost, the eerie happenings in the conservatory), is nevertheless effective. James provides perhaps too many suspects, but their varied motives and concomitant red herrings give the book a rich and robust texture.

As much as I appreciated having Dalgliesh avoid the potentially trite and clichéd path at the end of the book, I'm really not satisfied with the way James wrapped up the mystery. Without spoiling the ending, let me say that while it certainly "could" have happened that way, I would have liked to see Dalgliesh find some way to resolve things differently.

Despite some significant flaws, Shroud for a Nightingale, remains a well plotted and decently constructed mystery. As a piece of fiction that presents its hero as a work in progress, the book is highly enjoyable, though not entirely satisfying.

This novel from the first writing era of James is a masterpiece itself. It starts quite straightforward with two deaths and continues with unceasing suspense. The writer places Dalgliesh very well among the numerous characters of the story, trying to reveal all of their secrets. Interesting substories are being uncoiled as the reader moves forward. The pages whisk fast. You can never be sure about the killer or the motives underneath. Until the very end, the killer is being skillfully hidden by James. One could say that finishing the book lets the reader think about how far human relationships can go.

I discovered Ms. James with "A Certain Justice" and have set my task to reading her entire oeuvre. In Shroud she first exhibits her wonderful gift for portraying big egos, a gift that made "A Certain Justice" such a fun read. In this case, the egos are embodied in a surgeon and supervising nurses. Apparently the British nursing profession in the day had a very strict hierarchy--strange to this American reviewer who is used to encountering nurses dressed in pyjamas who are the very soul of casual. Dalgliesh has a healthy ego himself, deservedly so, and is often at war with himself to control it, which makes for excellent interactions that are handled with the skill that make these mysteries so enjoyable.

In short, nurses start ending up dead and Inspector Dalgliesh must come and sort out the mess. The resolution is appropriately cerebral and satisfying. As murder is effectively the work of a person willing to let their own ego control the lives of others, the device of writing big egos into the story makes an excellent background for such a mystery. It takes smarts to commit a crime worthy of Dalgliesh--a fact that is surprisingly lost on many crime authors who run their characters through disappointingly banal events.

This fourth book in the series represents a big leap forward--easily as good as the first and much better than the second and third. It is representative work from author now confident of her superior abilities and who is willing to exercise the effort to craft an intelligent and intricate mystery.

A Murder occurs during a nurses training demonstration. From that moment, you will be committed to the story. This story is a wonderful classic British who-dun-it. But it is so much more than that. Like all P.D. James novels, you'll find yourself caught up by the characters as layer by layer their good and bad intentions are revealed. The author never designs her novels with cardboard characters. Each player is complex, usually with faults, but so human and fallible, they are never one dimensional villians. This book stands out among all of her novels for two reasons. One is the atmosphere she creates, the claustrophic tense nurses training house, surrrounded by storms, driving rain, and falling tress. This all contributes to the high tension maintained throughout. The second reason is the mystery's solution. One of her most shocking and intense endings This is an outstanding book. If youre lucky...read it while snowed in with the phone lines down, and refuse to let the world outside interrupt theis intense and wonderful reading experience.

This is my second P.D. James book. Loved it and could barely put it down. Interesting setting and good plot. Just enough detail about the medical profession in England. Watched for clues along the way, but was surprised by ending. I had picked someone else for the murderer altho I decided early on that the two murders were done by same person. This book has me hooked on Ms. James. Am planning to read the rest of her books as soon as I can.

Shroud for a Nightingale was first published in 1971. The book is another in the series of detective police procedural novels featuring Inspector Adam Dalgliesh. James is adept at building tension as we explore the lives of her three dimensional characters. Except for a doctor the cast is made up of the nurses and their supervisors at the nursing school.
The Plot: Nightingale House is located next to John Carpendar's rural hospital. It is where student nurses are housed and have training in the fine art of caring for others. The House has a horrible history including a bizarre murder in the high Victorian age. During the course of a morning experiment a young nurse named Pearce dies horribly. Soon afterwards another nurse named Fallon is found poisoned in her bedroom. It is discovered in a post-mortem examination that she was pregnant.
The book features many interesting characters and takes a plot twist almost impossible to discover. Are the two murders linked? What effect does the past have on the present crimes? Who can one trust? All these are questions Dalgliesh and his team must discover if the foul crimes are to be accounted for.
Any P.D. James is written with elegance, wit and an examination of human sin and moral responsibility. This is true of this book. Read it and savor English murder fiction at its very best. Highly recommended!

Although I've never met a P.D. James book I didn't like, some of them are real standouts and this is one. In a very limited setting, she creates a cast of varied characters, very much a cross section of people in real life. The kind, the rude, the thoughtless, the helpful, the arrogant. Some of the most unpleasant people are not "the bad guys" although she teases you in that direction. The plot is nearly totally unpredictable but all comes together very neatly as is her style. Yet it is extremely clever and interesting all the while. But it is the characters, even the least of them so richly detailed, such as Morag, that keeps you looking to see how much of the book is left, as you don't want it to end.