Customer Reviews

A Taste for Death

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

-6 Stars! Superb, intricately plotted and riveting story.

...If you havent read P.D. James....it might be better to start with "Death of an Expert Witness". However, for a taste of P.D. James- this is an excellent choice!
Newcomers would still enjoy it, but may miss a little of the depth of character of the key players: Adam Dagliesh, a Scotland yard Detective with his own tragic past, who is also a published poet; and Sgt Kate Miskin, newly assigned to replace Dalgliesh's previous longtime assistant, wanting to make an impression, but plagued with problems in her personal life.

As a dedicated P.D. James fan, I would say this is even a step above her usual fascinating, exquisitely crafted stories!
Beautifully written and carefully plotted as usual.
This book is notable for the wonderful glimpses into the life of Dalgliesh's Sgt.: Kate Miskin. These personal moments dont distract, but further the story, and converge with the mystery plot to create a moving and exciting climax.

James always creates characters who are complex and beautifully described, but in this book she outdoes herself. She has created a rainbow of personalities ranging from the most endearing to the most odious characters.
In brief, a well-crafted, imaginative, wonderfully absorbing mystery. Only caveat would be a fairly bloody crime scene encountered by the detectives. Hopefully this wont put you off, as James never throws in gratuitous gore or violence. This was my absolute favorite P.D. James novel. If youve heard the authors name, and want to see if you like her without starting "at the beginning": This is a great choice.
In short: If you love mysteries, and dont own this book- RUN, dont walk to the "add to shopping cart" link!

3/5/02 edited 3/19/02

Among the masters of crime writing stands P.D. James, 80 years old, read by millions, and still selling (better than ever). She got her peerage in 1991 and sits in the House of Lords as the Baroness of Holland Park, on the Tory side opposite her rival Ruth Rendell, who is, incidentally, probably the better writer. Proclaimed as the Queen of mystery, P.D. was constrained by straightened circumstances to enter the British civil service. There she worked her way up eventually ending in the Police and Criminal Law Departments of the Home Office. Along the way she has also served as a Magistrate and as a governor of the BBC. All of which experiences she brings to bear on her wonderful, entertaining, and innovative fiction. Need I remind anyone that Baroness Holland Park in 1971 invented Cordelia Gray, the world's first female private eye and showed that women can have the same intelligence, powers of observation, and deductive sense as men? A Taste for Death, her best book, takes us into the world and minds of all characters, expresses their complex beliefs, psychological attitudes, and interesting thoroughly British behaviors so that we understand why these people are taking every fatal step. Some have found PD's writing slightly flat and wordy and have thought that this book, which runs 211,000 words, could have benefited from the kindly ministrations of a good editor. But who would dare edit her? It would be like pinching one's grandmother. Personally, I like reading how London homes look on the inside and I enjoy all those hallmark details of tea preparation and descriptions of elegant and not so elegant gardens. It's like reading Barbara Pym with the additional benefit of a horrible set of murders thrown in. Yes, friends, this is crime fiction at its very best. It goes beyond that fine achievement into another realm, the redemptive realm of art.

I didn't enjoy this P.D. James mystery as much as I have enjoyed other books by her, such as The Murder Room or The Lighthouse. Originally published in 1986, A Taste For Death has only recently come out in this Vintage series. This is the novel in which the Special Crimes Squad performs, and introduces Inspector Kate Miskin.

Two men have been murdered in the vestry of St. Matthew's church, and found by a parishioner. One is a highly regarded Member of Parliament, Sir Paul Berowne, and the other is a local tramp, Harry Mack. Its quite obvious that the murderer is someone acquainted with Berowne, and Commander Dalgliesh spnds most of the novel tracking down leads in that direction. The suspects in the murder case are many, and most are relatives of Berowne's that have a motive for killing him: his mother, Lady Ursula; his widow, Barbara; his daughter, Sarah; his widow's lover; his daughter's boyfriend; his widow's brother; the housekeeper. Also connected are the recent deaths of to servants who worked for the Berownes- one by suicide, the other death by drowning in the Thames.

Absolutely no attention has been paid to the tramp who was also murdered- in the second half of the book he ceases to exist; this what what bothered me most about the plot, which was tedious at best. So while the double-murder plot is intriguing, its highly unnecessary. I often felt that James's prose was wandering, unfocused. James spends too much time focusing on the personal lives of Dalgliesh, Kate Miskin, and the other officers who work on the case, and less on what really matters- the solving of the case.

James has the greatest depth in her characters of any of the detective fiction writers that I have read. In A Taste for Death a tramp and a government minister are found in a church with their throats cut. Dalgleish knew the minister slightly and felt a strong connection with him at their meetings. As the case unfolds Dalgleish finds himself drawn in far more personally than he expected, which hampers his investigation to some extent.

Apart from the mystery, this novel explores the remnants of the british class system as it crumbles, the old guard represented by Lady Ursula hanging on for grim death and Kate Miskin determined to sweep away all vestiges of her upbringing and create a new life. Neither character ultimately achieves their aim as nothing can remain unchanged, but as James aptly illustrates you also cannot just dismiss your past as though it did not take place.

James develops each character brilliantly as the story unfolds from the lonely spinster Miss Wharton who discovers the bodies, to Kate Miskin a newy assigned assistant to Dalgleish who's complicated personal life becomes tragically caught up in the case.

The book has been rated by other reviewers as both her best and one of her less noteworthy works. I found it superb and rate it up there with her best. Several reviewers also complain about the amount of detail the author goes into, in my opinion the detail is what brings the books to life, makes them believable and raises them above the mundane coffee table crime novel.

James achieves so much more than a mere who dunnit in her work, as she explores her complex characters insecurities, hang ups and emotions. In addition she always explores some new facet of English society and leaves you with something to ponder long after the book is back on the shelf. I feel James's work compares favourably with any contemporary "serious novelist" I have read recently and recommend her whole heartedly.

Here is one of the best mysteries I have had the pleasure to read. Though I still have a few remaining works of Ms. James on my list, this book has a resonance that few authors manage to achieve. The characters and the themes blend to create a work that is greater than the sum of its parts. At its heart, this is the story of a man who after achieving everything for which he has sought finds himself curiously unsatisfied with both life and the rewards of his efforts. Accordingly, solving the mystery not only means finding out who did the deed, but why our victim was distraught and unsatisfied despite tremendous achievements. Readers of this author will immediately recognize that her protagonist struggles with related issues and the pages of this book are devoted to the creation of several like-minded characters who each add their perspective to what is in reality an attempt to solve the mystery of life itself; where can one find true happiness and satisfaction?

I believe that the special quality of this book is found in its characters; I should think that the mix is so broad that any reader can find at least one with whom to identify. It does no harm to the mystery to remark that though the victims could not be further apart in terms of social standing and achievement, the author teaches that we are all ultimately equals in death. The author also manages to keep multiple story threads open and believable--this is far more difficult a task than it sounds. Until I encountered P.D. James, I found mysteries to be much like old episodes of Star Trek--if the character who transports to the surface is not one of the regular cast you instantly know that the character has but moments to live. Likewise, too many mystery novelists betray the story early in the book or else they create characters that are incapable of stirring the emotions of the reader--flaws thankfully avoided by P.D. James.

The best fiction encourages one to think about one's own life; it encourages and suggests how we may better ourselves and the world in which we live. This book leaves its reader a better person for having encountered the story; if not, it is not the reader who is without excuse.

Highly Recommended.

In this Adam Dalgliesh mystery, a homeless man and a Baronet are found slain in the vestry of St. Matthew's Church. With this as the beginning of the novel, one can only imagine how quickly the rest of the book unravels. This is one of P.D.'s greatest novels to date. The reader wants to know what brought these unlikely companions in death together, and why did they die so tragically?

As the plot thickens, we are introduced to the Baronet's family- an elite group of Londoners who all seem ruthless enough to have committed the crime, and before the end of the story, the reader has questioned him or herself about each character, wondering if they could have "done it". This cast includes his elderly mother and his society wife, and her galavanting brother.

As the novel progresses the Baronet Paul Berowne's life is opened up. His not so clean past seems to make him the obvious target for a murderer--rumors of getting hired help pregnant, stories of his behavior leading to the suicide of yet another household staff member-and a startling article in a scandal type tabloid that points a finger at him for each of these crimes. We are also quick to find out that his extra marital relationship may play a part in his untimely demise. P.D. James leaves each of these avenues open for exploration.

In addition to the crime at hand, A.D.'s assistant Kate Miskin is having problems of her own. The subplot in the novel is tied very neatly to the plot at hand near the end of the novel, in a shocking and page turning culmination. This is not a novel to be missed.

This ranks as one of P.D. James' finer achievements. One of her longest novels both in scope and number of pages, A TASTE FOR DEATH once more proves James' talent for devising an intricate detective story and filling it with well-crafted characters and some of the most beautiful prose ever written. The story revolves around Commander Adam Dalgliesh's investigations into the murders of two men who have been found, their throats slit, in the vestry of a church. The plot is complex and, in addition to the intrigue of the mystery, explores questions of politics, society, and morality. This is a wonderful novel with an explosive climax, certain to be a treat for both Dalgliesh fans and lovers of contemporary literature.

What's not to love about this complex detective with a tragic past? With each new mystery in the Dalgliesh series, P. D. James plumbs his depths and reveals new aspects of his characters for her devoted readers. This time, two bodies, throats slashed, are discovered in a London church, one a nob, the other a tramp. Then more dead bodies turn up. Turns out Dalgliesh knows at least one of them personally, and through his compassion for all the victims we learn more not only about them but also about the man investigating the case. Top notch stuff. If there is such a thing as a literary thriller, P. D. James invented it.

Adam Dalgliesh has not written any poetry for four years. Miss Wharton and Darren, a stray school boy, are a pair. They go to St. Matthew's twice a week. It is a Romanesque church in Paddington. On a particular visit they find two dead men. They go in search of Father Barnes, the rector. One of the dead men is a tramp, Harry Mack, and the other is Paul Berowne, a baronet. Kate Miskin and Adam, among others, are members of a special sensitive murder squad and are called upon to do the investigation. Berowne had known Dalgliesh and known about his fondness for architecture.

Berowne's daughter, Sarah, is mixed up with a revolutionary Marxist group. A cousin of Lady Berowne, Stephen Lampart, is her lover. Berowne had a mistress. It seems to Kate Miskin that they are up against a killer who has the intelligence to think and plan. Adam contends that no one joins the murder squad who hasn't a taste for death. When Dalgliesh visiting friends watches a tea ritual, he notes mentally that each person has his own contrivances to keep reality at bay. Berowne's wife, a beautiful woman, was his brother's fiancee. After his brother's death, Paul Berowne succeeded to the title and five months later married the fiancee, Barbara.

Exploitation is at the heart of successful detection. Kate and the third member of the team, Massingham, go out to interview a Mrs. Minns. The interview of the cleaning woman yields a surprising number of clues. A re-interview of Berowne's mistress provides more. The story covers class-frictions, the need for privacy of public figures, the role of religion and its lack in modern day England, and many other themes. The visual arts are dealt with too. To my way of thinking this is the best P.D. James mystery.

I am amused at reviewers who say that P. D. James writes too much detail. As it any other book, if there is too much detail to suit me, I just skim over it. No one says you have to read every word!

This book is another example of the mystery books that the English seem to write so well. What is it about them that make their mysteries so interesting? Is it that they seem more civilized? This book was interesting because of the way she wrote about class distinction and reserve.

I have recently discovered this author and am thoroughly enjoying her writing. Wanted to read her books in the order they were were written, but check out what library has. She doesn't disappoint.