Commander Dalgliesh, Insp. Miskin and Sgt Benton-Smith have a tricky case of murder on a remote island off the coast of Cornwall. Nathan Oliver was a well known author and had been found strangled and hanging over the edge of a lighthouse. There is a catalogue of complex relationship among the quests and permanent residents and a number of apparently connected leads from events in the past.

The expected delightful description does help to disguise the somewhat thin plot. The perpetrator seemed quit obvious but in the end the actual deduction was rather abrupt. The perpetrator rather played into the teams hands. Nevertheless a good read.

P.D. James has written another superb Adam Dalgliesh detective novel. This one is set on a small island off the coast of Cornwall that caters to the rich and famous, and provides them the kind of security that prevents them from being overwhelmed by the public. Alas, it doesn't prevent two murders from happening. A tight little thriller which includes a nice role for Inspector Miskin and even brings in a SARS quarantine as just another factor that has to be overcome.

A nearby island for the rich and idle, and then as famous rude novelist is found dead. The while island is suspect! AD is sent with his team.

After spending all of last year reading non fictional accounts on Indian history I decided to start this year by reading fiction and my choice was “The Lighthouse” by the Grand Dame of English fiction ‘P. D. James”. Besides Sue Grafton, Marian Keyes and Val McDermid, P D James tops my list of the best women fictional writers of her time. As usual her books are set in the English countryside, and her mastery over the English language is precise and spot on. The plot is set on a very remote 'Combe Island', which is a private holiday retreat for only the elite. Things are set into motion when a famous but hated writer “Nathan Oliver” is found dead hanging from the top of the lighthouse on the island. To maintain absolute secrecy the top brass requests for the investigative skills of the famous detective “Adam Dalgliesh” and his team to visit the island to solve a puzzling murder. The story is engaging and grips you right from the start with each investigator getting some space beside Dalgeliesh for a change. It is an out and out murder mystery with twists and turns, emotions running high with fabulous use of imagery while describing the island. A perfect read for P D James fans.

Quotable:
An hour with the children of their friends had reinforced their view that motherhood was a life sentence for which, thankfully, they were psychologically unsuited. They admitted to selfishness without compunction and if they later regretted it, they didn’t inflict their pain on him.

I loved the Adam Dalgliesh books many years ago, and I very much enjoyed the Jane Austen fanfic novel P.D. James wrote recently, so I took this out of the library. I was really disappointed. It takes place in the 21st century, but it feels so archaic. They are living lives that just don't happen anymore and make references to "during the war" meaning World War II, as if the UK had not been in wars since then. In fact, a lot of the characters sound as if they are either living in the mid-twentieth century, or as if nothing of note had happened since then Plus, the characters all seem like types, without depth. There's endless descriptions of physical attributes of people and things, which aren't particularly engaging.

The mystery itself is also of a kind of old-fashioned and hard to believe character. The murder victim is in circumstances where very few people had access to him - in this case he's vacationing on a very small island, with only a few visitors and residents and no one coming to and from the mainland - and they all have reasons to want him dead. And then, of course, a second murder happens before they can solve the first. And Dalgliesh solves it just by thinking about it, not by actual detective work.

2.5 stars. I wonder whether my tastes have changed or James has gone downhill. Either is possible.

The perfect type of murder mystery in a secluded location with a limited number of suspects, another in the Adam Dalgliesh series that slowly builds the tension that concludes with a strong final section.

As famous novelist Nathan Oliver is found hung on the secluded Combe Island of the coast of Cornwall, it seems like a clear case of suicide.
But the famous writer had no reason to commit suicide and on closer inspection it appears that foul play as at hand.
It’s down to Dalgliesh and he’s team to investigate the death.

A highly enjoyable mystery that gets better and better as the team delves further into the investigation.
James has created both interesting side characters and a perfect atmospheric setting.

3 & a half stars.

I Googled PD James when I was nearly finished this novel & found she was 84 when it was published. 84! I promise that this isn't going to be the start of rugby analogies in my reviews (I hate rugby) but this is like Colin Meads getting on the field for the current All Blacks & playing a creditable game. No longer at his legendary best, but not being laughed off the field.

But I feel that age & past glories can't be allowed for in reviews & this was one slow moving book. I liked the discussions of the complex relationships between Dalgleish & his staff, but not Kate debating whether to use a cell phone or a landline to ring Emma!

& a pet peeve of mine is when characters carry on with their day to day actions or are really rude while being interviewed by police. For example this interaction between Kate & a suspect;

Kate said, “Good morning. We'd like a word.”
“Then make it brief.” He added, “No offence but I'm busy.”

I can understand TV programmes (“The Bill & “Without a Trace” come to mind) having characters carrying on with their day to day activities, as watching talking heads would get boring after a while – just don't see the need for it in a book.

A thrilling finale to the book, so I have bumped the rating up half a star.

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It was good but didn’t let you figure out the mystery for yourself.

Reading the Adam Dalgliesh series has been like going on a roller coaster ride. When you somehow get to the top, you come crashing right down. And I did come crashing down with this book of the series, having been happily on top with the previous one.

I'm truly sorry that this book didn't work for me, but try as much, I couldn't get into the book. It had a promising beginning, of course, and I was hoping for another interesting journey with it, but, when the crime is committed and the investigation began, it turned tedious and boring until the final chapters when the criminal is revealed, and there was some action in apprehending him.

The murder-mystery is, for me, one of the poor ones in the series. I felt the whole thing (crime and the motive) a bit too fantastic to be true. James brings in a few complex reasons as possible motives for the crime, but settles in the end, with the least plausible of them. And to top it all, James has returned to her long winding style of writing, with too detailed descriptions of the characters, their inner psychologies, and the setting, drowning me in a pool of words. As to characters/suspects, except one or two, none of them were pleasant. The only pleasant thing to read was Kate's character development and her and Benton-Smith's improved professional relationship.

This was yet another disappointment in the series; I had quite a few. There is only the final book of the series for me to read, and I hope I won't be let down.

Not really thrown at the wall, just put down and ignored. Picked it up because it has a beautiful cover and a murder on an isolated island off the Cornish coast. I should remember that P. D. James always uses isolated locations—she’s already done the island thing in Skull Beneath the Skin. (And she’s already done the empty tower thing with cottages nearby in The Black Tower). This one is much later, though, so it’s very long, people have sex, Dalgliesh is less nasty, and it’s more interested in character than tension or mystery. By the time I got to page 150, I no longer cared about these boring rich people, or the high-level police. I was longing for another murder, or a sense of humor, or a map of the island, or a clue that seemed notable, or something to break the monotony. I would actually rather look at the cover and imagine the scenario that could be inside than wade through the rest of the plodding procedure that actually is there. Maybe it gets great in the last 200 pages. You tell me.