I enjoyed the setting and I do like Commander Dalgliesh. The story was reasonably good. What I didn't understand was the author's sympathy for her priest character who has spent time in jail for molesting, although not raping, young boys. The author makes the rest of the characters, except one, sympathetic to this character with the idea that pursuing a conviction and jail time were betrayals, not Christian charity, too harsh. I didn't understand if this was just supposed to be part of the story or if this was the author's viewpoint. She seemed to be saying that a little fondling was not a crime. Excuse me? It certainly is. It was odd to read. The author worked in criminal justice. In fact there were some other disturbing sexual relations going on in this book at the theological college that everyone just kind of looked the other way. I don't remember this from other P.D. James books.

Un giallo classico, ambientato in un luogo solitario e apparentemente tranquillo. Un monastero oscuro, affacciato su una scogliera, diventa teatro di misteriosi e inquietanti delitti. Nell’ambiente della Chiesa d’Inghilterra, niente è come sembra e ogni membro della piccola comunità di St. Anselm nasconde peccati e segreti inconfesabili. La figura dell’ispettore Dalgliesh è affascinante. Poeta e uomo sensibile, non rientra nello stereotipo del poliziotto invincibile. È solamente un uomo, con i suoi difetti e i suoi pregi, che lo rendono un personaggio umano e apprezzabile. La scrittura, particolarmente elevata, contribuisce a costruire una storia di tensione più che altro psicologica, dove le emozioni vengono suscitate dall’atmosfera cupa e densa di oscurità del paesaggio invernale. Le descrizioni sono molto accurate e scavano nella personalità di ogni personaggio e nella storia del seminario. Un luogo che fin dall’ottocento si è impregnato di ricatti, segreti, tradimenti. La soluzione arriverà inaspettata, mentre la tensione creata dall’intrigante intreccio di relazioni e sete di potere si scioglierà in un crescendo di suspense.

Love the writing, but who doesn't
I'm unsatisfied w the ending. i j wanted a beautiful shocking plottwist
Yea, also that one topic was implied very insensitive

Catching up…

“Something tells me that Ronald Treeve’s death wasn’t an end but a beginning.”

I love when an old classic mystery finds its way to my Little Free Library Shed. It reminds me of some of the stories I enjoyed discussing with friends. And, this was one of them.

“Henry James’s definition of the purpose of a novel: “To help the human heart to know itself.”

Oh, how our heart loves what novels do for us, right?

This story begins with a suspicious death in a location in which Commander Dalgliesh is supposed to be heading off to holiday. And, just as an aside, this is the 11th in the Dalgliesh series, so you can read this as a stand-alone, but you might miss out on all the nuances of fully understanding his character and history.

Anyway, back to the story. Well, we know that this holiday for him is going to be derailed. Especially when the murder takes place at a location familiar to Dalgliesh…he spent a summer at St. Anselm College, thus giving us more background on his own knowledge of theology and church history. (It appears that each story provides more background on Dalgliesh, that is why I said, you could probably read this as a stand-alone.)

The characters are beautifully constructed. The murdered son was unpopular. So, in many respects it is a victim others are not mourning. Which means his murderer could be anybody.

Although James stories are typically slow burns, they move thoughtfully and satisfactorily with a nice tidy ending reveal.

This is P.D. James at her very, very best. The setting is a small, rural theological college. Adam Dalgleish is called in to investigate what may be the suicide of a young ordinand, but could be something else. As always, guesses as to whether a crime was committed are futile until clues pile up near the very end. The writing is beautiful. The plot is lovely. And Dalgliesh as usual is the most interesting character of all. Highly recommended.

I'm realizing I just don't enjoy P.D. James's mysteries. Although I love a good murder mystery, I find her tone a little snobbish and superior, as though she references things in the hope you won't get the joke and therefore will feel a need to be more literate. One paragraph I read here (wish I could find it!) made me feel she was equating pedophile with homosexuality or least suggesting one leads to another and that upset me for its sheer ignorance, or at least ambiguity.

I'm going to give the the Dalgliesh books I have away...

My first P.D. James...and it certainly won't be my last. Elegantly written, Adam Dalgeish's character is well set up, and understated, as she works out the plot machinations at this Anglican retreat. (Far superior to E.L. James, needless to say). There's a delicately romantic subplot that's well crafted, too. Highly recommended.

Entretenido. Lectura fluida.

An atmospheric read with the setting of St Anselm college on a rugged coast. There are some odd assumptions or characterization about the priests. The weirdest one is the sympathy has to the pedophile priest is bizarre. Dalgleish is called into investigate the death of a boy after a collapse of sand kills him. Was it accidental, suicide or murder.

Interweaved with this is an Archdeacon who wants to close the college. Coupled with valuable artwork and an ancient papyrus perpetuated to be the death warrant for Jesus there are a lot of threads. Another murder takes place and Dalgleish takes over the investigation. In the end its following the money and a weird motive of a father to make good his absence during the life of his son. The ending is exciting and now I plan to watch the tv adaptation.

7/10.

After the enjoyment of the preceding few books, I was yet again in for another disappointment with Death in the Holy Orders. I'm writing this review immediately after finishing the reading so that I can quickly shove off the disappointment from my system.

The most regrettable part is that the story began so well. It was unfolded in a setting I liked and Dalgliesh was present from an early stage. The plot was complicated and well structured. All was good. But as the story progressed, the well-built structure slowly collapsed and both the murder-mystery and the story overall took a huge leap back. There was nothing I could do but watch helplessly as it fell apart. I was dismayed beyond words!

The mystery started with a lot of promise. And as I've already said it was complex and well structured. There were a few suspicious deaths and one positive murder, so it wasn't easy to guess the criminal, nor it was any easier to fathom a connection between the deaths. My suspicions, even though I felt illogical at the time, proved to be true in the end. Now I used the word "illogical", and that is how I still feel, for there is no other word to describe the absurdity of it all. The motive behind the crimes was simply ridiculous! It was a heavy blow to the carefully constructed structure of the murder-mystery which at the weight of it staggered and collapsed.

As those who've read the Dalgliesh series know, James winds her characters, their personal thoughts, and their psychologies with the plot of the murder-mystery to create a complete story. It is her style and there is no exception here. Unfortunately, except for a few of the clergy, I felt absolutely nothing for the others; no interest at all. They all felt wooden to me. And it was the same for Dalgliesh's team. I found both inspectors Kate Miskin and Piers Tarrant tiresome. Even Dalgliesh himself wasn't in his best element, although he was comparatively the most humane.

This book was a huge disappointment for me. But I just can't give up now. I've journeyed too far with the series to turn back. There is also some positive development in the personal life of Adam Dalgliesh that I'm curious to know more about. But even without that I know I would continue, for as I've said, I've gone too far to turn back. I know my review sounds like a tirade and I apologize to those who read it. My only excuse is that I was passionately disappointed and needed to vent it out.

I enjoyed this enough to want to go back to the start of the series - I just happened to have this one - and read more. I liked the atmosphere and the details, even if there was the odd paragraph that really should have been culled.

That said, a couple of issues with it. On the writing side, after all the complexity leading up to the conclusion, the ending didn’t quite work for me. I wasn’t convinced of the motive and I was also surprised at how early they figured out who it was. I was expecting some extra twist right at the end and there wasn’t.

Secondly, as many reviews have pointed out, James has gone out of her way to create sympathy for a paedophile priest character and minimise his crimes. I could understand if one character expressed such views, or if all the religious characters leant heavily on ideas of forgiveness. Instead most characters go out of their way to basically talk about how this poor, lovely paedophile was persecuted into prison. It was so weird.