Original Sin by p.d. james

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

Too many characters and a lot of superfluous padding. Tried to get into it but it didn't engage me. Had to check back for names and links but all the while I just wanted to skip to the end and get it over with.

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JapaneseDuck

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

This is the ninth in the Adam Dalgliesh books and is one of my favourites, so far. This is probably helped by the fact it is set in a publishing firm – anything at all bookish and I am immediately on board. It also begins well, with young shorthand typist, Mandy Price, setting out for an interview at Peverell Press. The interview is interrupted by the discovery of a body, but, showing a degree of nonchalance which impressed me greatly, Mandy still agrees to take her typing test…

Sadly, the discovery of what appears to be a suicide, is only the beginning of the troubles for Peverell Press. There is dispute among the partners about the direction of the firm and the desire of Gerald Etienne, who has taken the senior role, to sell off the magnificent, riverside building, that the publisher’s inhabit. In addition, there is a mischief maker on the premises, who is causing trouble.

Of course, the trouble soon involves murder and Dalgliesh is brought in to investigate. I enjoyed the setting, characters and the plot of this novel. As always, James was a little indulgent in exploring the back story of every character and tends to offer overly detailed descriptions of every scene. Still, mostly, this worked well and there was a good cast of characters and possible motives.

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AoKatsu

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

Στο βιβλίο μυστηρίου της P.D. James, το 9ο κατά σειρά με τους γρίφους που καλείται να λύσει ο επιθεωρητής και ποιητής Adam Dalgliesh, πρωταγωνιστεί ένα κτίριο. Ήδη από την αρχή η συγγραφέας διευκρινίζει ότι το κτίριο δεν υπάρχει στην πραγματικότητα, ίσως επειδή μαντεύει πόσο καταλυτικό ρόλο θα παίξει στη φαντασία του αναγνώστη.
Πρόκειται για το κτίριο Innocent, που βρίσκεται στις όχθες του Τάμεση και αποτελεί ένα αρχιτεκτονικό παράδοξο. Άκρως εντυπωσιακό, κατ΄άλλους όμορφο, για μερικούς αμφιλεγόμενης αρχιτεκτονικής αξίας, βασίζεται στα σχέδια ενός βενετσιάνικου παλάτσο.
Ο δεύτερος πρωταγωνιστής του βιβλίου είναι ο Τάμεσης που καθρεφτίζεται στα μεγαλόπρεπα παράθυρα του κτιρίου και κυλάει δίπλα του.
Και ο τρίτος πρωταγωνιστής είναι ο Σφυριχτός Σιντ, ένα λούτρινο φίδι, κατάλοιπο μιας χριστουγεννιάτικης γιορτής που έγινε στο κτίριο και που η χρησιμότητα του είναι να τυλίγεται σε μια ενδιάμεση πόρτα για να παραμένει ανοιχτή.
Το κτίριο Innocent αποτελεί την έδρα ενός εκδοτικού οίκου όπου και διαδραματίζεται το μεγαλύτερο μέρος της ιστορίας. Άρρηκτα δεμένα το κτίριο Innocent, ο εκδοτικός οίκος και ο Τάμεσης περικλείουν ζωές του παρόντος και του παρελθόντος δημιουργώντας έναν στενό κύκλο ανθρώπων εξαρτημένων από συνήθειες και αναμνήσεις. Το ιδιωτικό πλοιάριο του οίκου πηγαινοφέρνει καθημερινά τους εργαζόμενους από το ποτάμι στο κτίριο Innocent. Ο εκδοτικός οίκος Πέβερελ αντιμετωπίζει αρκετά οικονομικά προβλήματα, που θα τον αναγκάσουν να προχωρήσει στην πώληση του κτιρίου και στην αναδιάρθρωση της λειτουργίας του. Μέσα σε όλα αυτά, η αυτοκτονία μιας υπαλλήλου στον 3ο όροφο γίνεται η αρχή της αναστάτωσης όλων, για να ακολουθήσει μια σειρά φόνων.
Η P. D. James γράφει πολύ ωραία. Οι περιγραφές της είναι ζωντανές και οι χαρακτήρες της αναπτυγμένοι σε βάθος. Δίνει σημασία στα συναισθήματα και τις σκέψεις τους ενώ ανασύρει παιδικά τραύματα και μισοξεχασμένα στιγμιότυπα για να κάνει τους χαρακτήρες της όσο πιο ανθρώπινους γίνεται. Στο βιβλίο αυτό ο επιθεωρητής Adam Dalgliesh μένει κάπως στο περιθώριο, μέχρι το τέλος. Εϊναι πάντοτε ο πιο απόμακρος όλων και οι πληροφορίες για το άτομο του δίνονται με το σταγονόμετρο. Αντίθετα, εμφανίζονται πολλά άλλα πρόσωπα που δίνουν την ευκαιρία στην P. D. James να κάνει σχόλια για πολλά ευαίσθητα θέματα, ένα από τα οποία είναι η θρησκεία.
Στο βιβλίο αυτό η P. D. James μοιάζει να είναι αφηρημένη. Η πλοκή σε πολλά σημεία δημιουργεί ερωτηματικά και σχεδόν μέχρι το τέλος ο αναγνώστης περιμένει εκείνον που θα βγάλει τα κάστανα από τη φωτιά, προσδοκώντας να είναι ο Dalgliesh αλλά τελικά δεν είναι. Ο πρώτος φόνος μοιάζει υπερβολικός ως προς το κίνητρο του και η αίσθηση που αφήνει η ιστορία στο τέλος είναι κάπως παράδοξη. Άφησε όμως το ωραίο ταξίδι με το πλοιάριο στον Τάμεση, το μεγαλόπρεπο κτίριο, το ομιχλώδες Λονδίνο και βέβαια τον Σφυριχτό Σιντ!
Έχω γίνει φιλαράκι με τον Ηρακλή Στρούγγη στα audio books. Διαβάζει πολύ ωραία, αν και κομπιάζει στα ξένα ονόματα.

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mm5703

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I was given a bag of books from a local swapping group, and in amongst the modern crime thrillers were a stack of PD James’ Dalgliesh novels. They make good lockdown reading - undemanding, well written, not too tense or high octane - and I’m enjoying her approach to plotting, which apparently involves some sort of madlibs process where she pulls a vaguely archaic setting out of a hat (struggling publishing firm; private museum; monastery) and then inserts her stock characters (spinster who is overly dedicated to her job; unpleasant man trying to bring about change to setting; token working class character). It’s like Midsomer Murders, if it was set in London and we had to constantly hear about how Barnaby is an intellectual as well as a police officer. All of which makes it sound like I dislike the series but I really don’t! They’re very readable and this is a particularly good one.

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Coob919

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

What an interesting journey it has been for me to read all the Dalgleish novels in order. They mos def, very noticeably, get increasingly better. This one has the most complex plot and the most well developed characters so far.

James is often criticized for taking up one to two early chapters on backstory for the person who discovers the body only to discard this character for the rest of the book. After all, just because you found a dead body doesn't mean you had anything to do with the murder. That's sensible and all, but many GoodReads reviewers have noted - then why bother with all the investment in developing our relationship to this interesting person?

As if she finally decided to listen to an editor, in this book, for the first time ever, the person who discovers the body is allowed to inhabit the rest of the book. James, however, still seems slightly reluctant to give free rein. We learn a lot about Mandy's relationship to her boss at the agency, which then gets dropped, almost completely. Would it have killed her to let the agency boss have another appearance?

This book follows the trope of there being at first no suspects and then everyone is suspect. But that doesn't make it bad. I was still guessing a hundred pages from the end. I even wondered if she would pull an Agatha Christie and have two or more murderers working together. No spoilers - you'll have to figure that out for yourselves. The final payoff was back to classic PD James plotting, which is always a little less than I wanted.

She's such a close-but-no-cigar writer to me. I finally figured out why. Her real strength is world building. She completely and thoroughly takes the reader to a different place and time in a very believable manner. In another life I wonder if she could have had a successful career as a science fiction writer. Her prose is always elegant, although she overuses the words "fawn" and "lugubrious" in this novel. But I appreciate her full vocabulary. There's always at least one word I have to look up. "Farouche" was it more popular in the 1990s or was it obscure even then? Anyway, it's quaint.

If you've never read PD James and were afraid to try I would start with book 8 and read any random one after that. But if you decide you like her as a writer I think it is well worth going back and reading her work in chronological order. I really got to see her growth of skills. In her earliest novels when Dalgliesh interviews the suspects it's a huge info dump. As the novels progress she gets increasingly more deft at spacing apart the suspect interview and information gathering events. Overall this was a highly enjoyable read

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Ganymede1135

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

While reading the The Cuckoo's Calling recently I noted that the opening reminded me of a P D James novel in that it introduced the story by tracking a capable young secretary/admin as she began her first day at a job that would prove to have momentous consequences. Since James has always ranked high in my personal pantheon of crime novelists, I decided to give Original Sin a re-read/listen.

I'm so glad that I did, since the book remains as compelling as I found it many years ago. The setting, a spectacular re-creation of a Venetian palace, located on the banks of the Thames, is lovingly described and the characters are intriguing. As always with James, nothing is rushed, but nothing is unnecessary or wasted. The plot could have gone in many directions based on the personalities and experiences of those characters, and the conclusion came off well. Of course, it's always good to reconnect with Adam Dalgleish and Kate Miskin.

I couldn't help thinking about my first P D James, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, which I read simply because the title caught my eye on a library bookshelf during the feminist fervor of the 70’s. A story about a woman detective! How cool is that?

It certainly proved to be a super selection, since reading P D James has given me so many hours of pleasure over the years.

One more thing - while reading a section about Greenwich I remembered our commitment to spend more time there should the pandemic ever lift and we have a chance to visit London again. And within minutes, on Facebook an "event invitation" to a short course in astronomy arrived from the Royal Observatory. My first ever from them. Mysterious how these things work out.

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juuzous_undies

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

It was entertaining enough, but I kept finding myself going back to find what detail I had just missed. The plot evolved in a way that felt layered in something I was more focused on, and I got stuck there more than once.

This is the first book I've read by P.D. James, and though she came recommended at our library and I know she is well-received, I couldn't help but to imagine that the description of the author-character Esme Carling matched how I guessed P.D. James is for real. That, or Joan Collins or some other glamorous-ish but dated woman. That actually ended up being quite interesting to me.

And it seems that this Adam Dalgliesh character is reported to be pretty hot and charismatic, but he struck me as being rather peripheral. Meh. Maybe it's to be seen in the entirety of the series. I don't see me going back for more, however, unless I'm out of other options. Undoubtedly, there is a huge audience for this writing. I'm just not in it.

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