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Skull Beneath the Skin [Audio Cassette]

Pd James (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews) |

Out of Print--Limited Availability.


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Audible Audio Edition, Unabridged $27.95 or Free with Audible 30-day free trial

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1994
Hired as a bodyguard to faded actress Clarissa Lisle, the recent recipient of numerous death threats, Cordelia Gray accompanies the actress to an island castle, whose owner collects funeral paraphernalia, in a full-cast dramatization of the classic mystery. Book available.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Time The reigning mistress of murder.

People P.D. James is the greatest living mystery writer. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Fading star Clarissa Lisle plans a spectacular comeback, to be staged in a gothic castle. But poison-pen letters bearing death threats couched in Shakespearian quotations prompt Clarissa's husband to call in the young private detective Cordelia Gray to investigate. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Product Details

  • Audio Cassette
  • Publisher: Books on Tape (February 1994)
  • ISBN-10: 5553783143
  • ISBN-13: 978-5553783143
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,823,981 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's P. D. James Page
P. D. James
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
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Again, Cordelia Gray April 17, 2002
Format:Paperback
To the best of my knowledge, P.D. James only wrote two books about her young female detective Cordelia Gray. That's unfortunate, because I enjoyed both of them very much, especially this one. It has all of the "classic" elements of the British murder mystery: the castle, an island, an oddly assorted company, a butler, an interesting wealthy man, assorted relatives, and a grisly murder. Cordelia must sort out everything in the end, and even though the ultiumate outcome is somewhat in doubt, there's rarely a dull moment throughout this book. You follow Ms. Gray's progress avidly, and try to keep up with what's going on around her to gather your own clues about the murder. I'll admit that I was shocked at the resolution of the mystery, and that's one of the reasons I enjoyed the book so much. If you haven't read Ms. James, start with "An Unsuitable Job For A Woman", the first Cordelia Gray mystery, and then progress to this work. You won't be disappointed!
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Cordelia Gray, the brave and endearing young private investigator who made her debut in P.D. James' AN UNSUITABLE JOB FOR A WOMAN, returns in the author's eighth whodunit, THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN. The title's from Webster, and it's a fitting one; the story literally reeks of the theater. Clarissa Lisle is a bitchy, fading actress determined to salvage her career as the star of an amateur production of Webster's "The Duchess of Malfi," staged in a restored Victorian theater on Courcy Island, just off the coast of Dorset. Lisle has been receiving mysterious poison-pen letters, death notes in the form of quotations from Shakespeare and Webster, and has hired Cordelia to discover their source. The castle on Courcy Island becomes the stage for a tense gathering of Clarissa's friends, relatives, and guests--each of whom, we learn, has excellent motive for killing the actress. When the death does inevitably occur, Cordelia finds herself left with a case of murder that she fully intends to--and does--unravel.

THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN may be the most stylish, lavishly mounted novel that James has written. It's an overflowing mixture of the elements of the detective/horror tale at its most clichéd--the closed circle of suspects in a Victorian castle on a small island serviced by a spooky, tight-lipped butler and his wife, a crypt filled with skulls, a collection of memorabilia from past murders, frightening knick-knacks in the shapes of human appendages...it's all gloriously entertaining, never for a minute even coming close to realism. And therein lies the fatal flaw of the novel.

P.D. James' novels are seldom been anything but realistic, but she seems to have broken the rule in THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN. The Gothic horror, portrayed in a darkly comic manner, clashes painfully with her finely drawn, introspective characters (except Clarissa Lisle, one of the few two-dimensional stereotypes who pop up in James' fiction) and flawlessly crafted prose. It's as if she's written two completely different novels, one a brilliant character study, the other a conventional ghost story, and meshed them together with little regard for the coherence of the result. Until now, James has done a marvelous job proving that the English mystery can make an extraordinarily fine mainstream novel; unfortunately, she's also shown that the magic combination can work only when her settings are serious and controlled. THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN is not serious. It's not too far from out-and-out comedy, and James' admirable but vain attempts to weave her fantastic set pieces and excessively necrophilic atmosphere into a profound work of fiction makes it even more funny.

Not that most readers will care. This is still an absorbing entertainment--substantial, cunningly plotted, and beautifully written. More discriminating readers will conclude that either THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN is a parody written by a skilled impersonator, or P.D. James has seen one Dracula movie too many.

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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Now almost twenty-five years old, this mystery by P. D. James is a delightful entertainment, filled with plot twists and turns, over-the-top action, and characters who are so exaggerated that they might be considered caricatures. Cordelia Gray, a detective whose job is usually the finding of lost pets, is hired to guard egomaniacal actress Clarissa Lisle during the days leading up to her performance in The Duchess of Malfi. Always preoccupied with death, Clarissa has recently received threatening notes, leaving her hysterical on the eve of her performance.

Both Cordelia Gray and Clarissa Lisle are staying at Sir Ambrose Gorringe's Victorian castle, perched high on a remote island where Gorringe has restored the theater at which Clarissa will perform. A collector of morbid relics, including, most recently, the arm from a memorial statue of a dead child, Gorringe also delights in telling the island's history as a place where German POWs were interned.

When, despite precautions, Clarissa Lisle is, in fact, murdered--with the marble arm from the dead child's statue--the reader is presented with a typical "closed room" murder, the killer obviously one of a dozen or so people staying at the castle, each with a possible motive for killing Clarissa--the need of money for a business, blackmail, long-standing hatred, blame for the death of a child, humiliation, rejection. As the police (and Cordelia) investigate, the story of the island and the death of a German prisoner plays a role in the action.

As always, James's eerie setting furthers the mystery and enhances the suspense. The quirky and memorable characters are well drawn, but they often border on absurdity, and James's large cast and her use of stereotypes prevent significant character development. The unfolding mystery and constant plot twists keep the reader guessing--just when the murderer has been "uncovered," doubts arise about other characters and their possible involvement. Additional deaths keep the tension high, and the ending, in keeping with the tone of the novel, shows the decadence of these "elite" characters. Numerous quotations from plays by Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare, and John Webster add additional (and ironic) dramatic punch to this mystery-melodrama. Highly entertaining and often wickedly amusing. Mary Whipple
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Todos os hóspedes tem um motivo para matá-la... e um...
Combinando os clássicos ingredientes de um assassinato, com o mistério de uma heroína com personalidade fascinante, a escritora inglęs P. D. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Lili Machado
Cordelia Gray the young British detective must solve the murder of an...
P.D. James is Great Britain's reigning queen of classic English detective fiction. "The Skull Beneath the Skin" ( a line James has culled from a T.S. Read more
Published 11 months ago by C. M Mills
Classic P.D. James
P.D. James wrote this novel at the height of her power in 1982 and it shows. It is the second, and sadly, seemingly last novel with Cordelia Gray as the protagonist. Read more
Published 23 months ago by carlaf
Universal fears
A lot of details of the plot, about Cordelia Gray, and about P.D. James are given by the other reviewers, so I will only chip in with some opinions. Read more
Published on November 29, 2009 by Theodoros Natsinas
In need of a good editor
I've enjoyed the Adam Dalgleish mysteries by P.D. James, and was hoping that this Cordelia Gray mystery would be similarly enjoyable. I was sorely mistaken. Read more
Published on February 1, 2009 by Deborah McGrane
Excellent...
Watertight characterization, spectacular scenery vividly described, a smooth uncluttered prose - a much-polished work! Read more
Published on May 17, 2008 by Prabal Guha Biswas
Disappointing.
P.D. James is best known for her Adam Dalgliesh mysteries, and this is for the very good reason that in Dalgliesh James has created a believable, interesting, and flawed detective... Read more
Published on October 14, 2007 by Vivian Shaw
Disappointed
The Skull Beneath the SkinWay too much minutiae and not enough written on the plot to keep my interest. Very disappointed but will give P. D. Read more
Published on September 22, 2007 by N. Wisor
Playing at Murder
"The Skull Beneath The Skin" is the second (and presumably last) installment in the Cordelia Gray mystery series by P.D. James. Read more
Published on May 5, 2007 by R. Chaffey
Cowards die many times before their death...
A delightful mystery in the classical, Agatha Christie style, "The Skull Beneath the Skin" has all the features making it remarkable within its genre. Read more
Published on November 12, 2006 by Aleksandra Nita-Lazar
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