Another satisfying PD James novel. She somehow manages to turn crime writing into deep and thought-provoking lit. Not the ending I was hoping for though, hence the 4 stars.

Listened to in audio format.

I am really enjoying the Commander Dalgleish Series. I do not have the full series, but I have been listening to the novels I do own in order. I recently finished The Murder Room, but had to buy Death in Holy Order to find out how Adam met Emma Lavenham, who becomes his girlfriend in the subsequent book.

I have read previous reviewers who mention the paedophile priest. This storyline was only mentioned 3 times in the entire book and was in no way part of the story so do not let you put you off.

The book starts with finding the dead body of Ronald Treeves, a young theology student at St Anselms. Ronald died climbing a sandy cliff which fell suffocating him. The coroner deemed his death as suicide, Ronald a prominent man is not happy with the ruling and asks Adam to investigate.

Adam is in a weeks leave and actually stayed at St Anselms as a child so he is quite happy to speak to the staff. It is arranged that Adam will stay at the college but will joined with some other guests over the weekend. The guests are Roger Yarwood a policeman on sick leave, a man writing a thesis on St Anselms, Emma Lavenham a university lecturer and Father Martin Petrie. Perrier is not a nice man and upsets the priests by wanting to close the college.

Surprise, surprise during the weekend Father John is murdered and the death of Ronald Treeves takes a backseat. When the Suffolk police allow The Met to investigate the killing, Adam and his team encounter secrets at the college which nearly result in the death of Adam.

This was an enjoyable story by P D James, however I have only awarded four stars because I could not work out the motivation of the killer.

I can't help it: mystery novels are captivating. No overwrought love stories, no "my parents put my through a horrible childhood, & all I got was this lousy t-shirt" memoir flashbacks, and no excruciating historical minutiae chronicling forgotten events. The best ones are just a rollicking good story. And P.D. James' Death in Holy Orders is just that, and it features an erudite cast of characters in a setting of isolated and breathtaking scenery to boot. James' literary talents sometimes outshine her storytelling abilities (some of her foreshadowing is somewhat heavy-handed), but I enjoyed this British crime drama, particularly the portrayal of the Church of England as a character in its own right.

BookCrossing'ed April 2, 2010 - BCID: 611-7980377

This was the first adult mystery novel I read in a long time, and I was impressed by it. I thought the setting sounded beautiful (a place I'd like to visit, minus the murders of course!) and the plot was intriguing.

This was another good chapter in the Dalgliesh series.

Yes, I did see the film but it didn’t play through my head as I was reading it. The film must not have been very memorable to me.

What was most enjoyable about this one, was Dalgliesh had to draw upon things that happened in his youth to unravel the series of crimes in this book.

To say anymore will spoil it.

Onto the next one in my year of P.D. James.

I sporadically go back to P.D. James' Adam Dalgliesh mysteries.
The plots are always good, but I have to say that Dalgliesh irritates me. He takes himself so seriously and is so ponderous. And of course, from time to time, we are reminded that he is a poet, which personally, I think he should keep this info to himself.

I would love to see a pastiche where Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael and Inspector Dalgliesh have to go on a long journal together (either by horse or by train, since they would be crossing six centuries to spend time together.)

But I think in his humble yet earthy way, Cadfael would nudge Dalgliesh out of his self-absorbed, pious affect and force him to rough it a little bit and stop being so Jesuitical.

I confess that this is one of the Dalgliesh books that I suspect I read about 15 years ago and probably enjoyed, and I am going to read it to the end, but I just had to get that off my chest.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Okay, now I have finished this book. I still agree with my earlier comments. Dagliesh is just too full of himself, in the most self-effacing way, of course.

Here are many of the things that I found irritating about this story of P.D. James':
1. The just borderline pornographic situation of a woman having an incestuous relationship with her (half)-brother, who is painfully less socially and intellectually adept than she. Because of his dog-like devotion to her (and James lays it on thick that because she is female, she is EVIL), she convinces him to steal a consecrated host from the church. If this is not religious porn, I don't know what is...

2. The priest who was convicted of pedophilia (sex with his choirboys or seminarians or something) is portrayed as a victim of injustice, besides having a sweet, innocent and somewhat scatterbrained nature. So imagine one of Agatha Christie's truly innocent vicars, and make them a pedophile, and there you are.

3. Dalgliesh MUST get entangled with the beautiful professor, just because. (I think I remember that in subsequent books they are an item, but his solitary, arrogant nature and her fiercely independent yet vulnerable female nature cause dissonance. Of course.

And finally, I have to say this probably betrays my ignorance of the Church of England, but I spent the first 100 pages wondering if these were Catholic priests because of all the discussion of confession and communion. Then there were references to something being "Roman," (meaning Protestantism influenced by Catholicism.) And yes, most of the priests are married, so they can't be Catholic.

I don't know why I keep giving P.D. James another try. Dalgliesh just wears me out.

honesty pd james is just so classic for a reason

Slow start, but, as usual, James immerses you into these people's lives so that you feel like you know and care about them deeply.

I hate to offer a negative review - but someone has to stand up and say something for children who have been sexually abused - particularly by clergy! It is amazing that anyone, seeing heartbreaking stories of sexual abuse of young people, would allow such an apologetic to be published. It will give Jerry Sandusky and the like something to read while in prison.

In spite of a good tale, and vivid characters, I couldn't get beyond, (nor should anyone) the defense of child abuse, ("it was only fondling") and the vilification of someone who "dug up" more victims. The fact that the story is so well done makes it worse, in that it carries some legitimacy to the idea of abuse being minimal. The subtext of abuse was not primary to the story, but it was definitely central - you couldn't miss it. No one would permit an defense of racism or rape or any other illegal and immoral activities.

Seriously, this needs to be addressed. At first I assumed it was revealing the context of the story, but when the main character immediately jumped to the defense of a pedophile, I was shocked and sickened. This story should be edited, updated, something.

Publishers, please read the news, get some information from the young people who were "only fondled" and check your facts. I would wonder if this sort of defense is culpable in the continued abuse of children - it offers a way to spin the crime to make the perpetrators more sympathetic, and any accusers vilified. Shame!

Πρώτη γνωριμία με την κυρια James και δεν απογοητευτηκα . Ισως σε κάποια σημεία ηταν φλύαρη αλλα μόνο κατα παραγραφο κι οχι σελιδα. Κλασσική αστυνομική αγγλική αγαπημενη ιστορία

Overall, I tend to like P.D. James, and Commander Dalgliesh. I never read them in order, just however they fall into my possession. The story is like the rest of them, done well enough, nothing shockingly new in her formula.

That being said, I was severely disappointed in her sympathy for the priest who was convicted of molesting (not raping) young boys. Essentially, everyone is ok with this, and brush it off, as it wasn't that bad. It was mentioned many times, and the only person who was upset at the situation ended up beign murdered and everyone was happy about it. Ridiculous. I don't care if this is her opinion, or she's taking the opinion of the old church, but it is not acceptable in any way, shape of form.

This book would have a higher rating (most likely 3 stars) if the molesting story had been reasonably addressed. As it wasn't, I found it affected the whole story for me.

I was waiting for a neat twist at the end - but sadly disappointed. However it a well written, well constructed murder mystery. Not quite country cottage but not blood thirsty either. 3.5 stars.