The murderer in Death of an Expert Witness by P. D. James is one for which we rightly should expect to show some empathy, if not sympathy. The murderer is a victim as well as a perpetrator. That being said, I haven’t given anything away. Every suspect in this novel has some emotional baggage that might or might not have caused them to kill the deceased. Even the eventual victim who inspires such angst and ire among his co-workers is not one for which I could withhold my sympathy. I could understand and identify with mistakes he had made and recognize self-destructive facets in his personality that have been (and probably still are) present in my own personality. I can honestly state that this is the best mystery novel I’ve read by James. I consider it her masterpiece. Not only did I not know the real murderer until the end, but I turned each page in constant fear that it would turn up being this suspect or another. I was emotionally involved with every suspect.

In addition to the intriguing mystery, James weaves a microcosm of society (amazing in terms of the fact that this was written years ago)—potential foreclosure, tolerance of alternate lifestyles, sexual predators, domestic violence, abandoned spouses, unloved children, sibling closeness that threatened other relationships, vocational ambition, emotional frigidity, and more. I found portions of the investigation to uncover absolutely visceral-wrenching aspects of human cruelty (more emotional than physical, if you happen to be squeamish and still like well-written mysteries).

Of course, one of the more unique aspects of this mystery is that we don’t really get any new insights about the protagonist, Adam Dalgleish. Although portions of the investigation are seen through his point-of-view, the brilliant sections of the book are positively told through the perspectives of the interesting suspects. Now, those of you who follow my reviews will know that I usually don’t like having my POV bounced around like an old railway carriage on a neglected stretch of track, but I can honestly say that the myriad of important perspectives in this novel is exactly what makes it. I love fascinating characters and this one is absolutely chock-full of some of the most vivid I can ever remember encountering in James’ work. If you want a mix of procedural and psychological cleverness, you need to read or re-read this one.

Another marvellous police procedural mystery by P.D. James that stands up to the test of time. I especially enjoyed the exploration of societal attitudes towards the different female lifestyles and the setting of the Fens.
I am dismayed by the reviews that complain about Adam Dalgiesh’s lack of quirks and interesting hobbies. Personally, I am amused by his knowledge and appreciation of obscure collectables that one may find hiding in the corner of your Grandmothers China cabinet. In my opinion, he is a relatable literary character who spends as much time in his head as the rest of us. So much so, that sometimes I half expect to run into him at the corner store!

I didn’t get very far. I found it confusing enough that I started over at one point and then decided “why” and gave up.

I really enjoyed most of this. I really enjoy P.D. James' writing. I love how she develops the characters n her novels. I love the setting of this - a forensics laboratory out in the country. It's a bit of an insular community, and it felt really well fleshed out.

My one quibble is the revelation. It seems that P.D. James has two techniques of revealing a killer:
1. It's the most obvious person that did it, but she convinces you early on that the couldn't possibly have done it, only to reveal that they have; or
2. It's someone so unlikely, and with no apparent motive such that it feels like it comes out of left field.

This one is the second. But it felt almost too out of left field. Because it turned out the killer was having an affair with the ex-lover of the murdered man, and the murdered man threatened exposure. Except that the only thing that pointed to an affair was the fact that they sat in the same pew at a concert the whole village went to? And also it would have been technically possible for him to cover up his involvement.

I don't mind not being able to predict the killer, but this one made me do a bit of a mental double-take when he was revealed. And not in a good way. So I docked a star.

I really enjoyed the rest of this though.

Someone’s alibi in this otherwise fairly serious book is “I can’t have done it because I was busy pretending to be a horse for a group of morris dancers.”

10/10 alibi, 6/10 book, PD James has done better than this.

2.5 stars. While a longtime fan of Agatha Christie, I’ve not read a heap of other classic crime authors before, and thought I should give it a go. Sadly, this story just wasn’t for me. It took me ages to get the characters straight and it was so descriptive and focused on minutiae that it was difficult to find clues. It read more like a straight novel than detective fiction.

I did like some parts of it, like Brenda’s nighttime walk through the new laboratory, but overall it didn’t do much for me.

(Edit 3/11/24: I just watched the two-part adaptation on Dalgliesh and really enjoyed it, so I’m wondering if maybe I was a bit harsh on this at the time I read it.)

One of the longer of P. D. James' Commander Adam Dalgliesh mysteries (and #6 in the series), this well written and intricately plotted story set in a police crime lab in an old estate out in the fens will keep you guessing as usual but also this time one crucial clue is kept back from the reader after Dalgliesh has access to the information. The murder victim is a horrible individual, yet as we slowly find out what pain has brought him to act so insufferably we can understand why he was so unbearable. Many have reason to hate him for his arrogance, his rudeness, his threats, his perfectionism, and his interference in other people's lives. However, he's not the only awful character, nor the only one with a complicated life. James provides insights into the strivings of career builders, social worriers, those trying to hold together marriages, those with financial problems, those dealing with loneliness and rejection, and those wondering if their lives and relationships will be happy ones in the future. This is a long read, and you should take it slowly. There is a lot to be considered here.

This book is a terrific mystery, which would generally be enough for me to give it four stars. But I’m almost reluctant, because this book so much wants to be more than just a terrific mystery. James has a solid grip on red herrings, alibis, police procedure, scary scenes in abandoned places, and the essentials of mystery plots and characters. So much so that you forgive her for creating a character that basically does nothing but drive men mad with lust. And you forgive her for making Dalgliesh seem more human because his point of view is less dominant here. And you forgive her for implying deeper meaning than she’s actually put in the book.

Still, among the best of the Dalglieshes —nowhere near as bloated as what follows. Nice nods to Sayers in the Fens setting and, I count, five or six phrases that seem lifted directly from The Nine Tailors.

The critic Julian Symons said that PD James was the end of a line of golden age British crime writers that began with Christie, Sayers and Allingham. A fair comment since all the elements of a classic mystery novel are to be seen here and in her other books.

These include a crime committed in a closed community, a victim unpleasant enough to have made several of his colleagues willing to ensure he never tasted birthday cake again and a detective whom is as much a father confessor as a warranted officer of the law. Other less palatable, to modern readers anyway, elements are present too, such as the way James writes her working-class characters as half truculent oafs and half dim but decent children.

As a piece of crime fiction, the novel works surprisingly well despite being over forty years old and written in a way that even then was looking back to an idealised past. James keeps her readers guessing as to the identity of the suspect almost to the end and her description of the fraught internal politics of a civil service establishment are entirely believable.

What makes it both readable and worth relishing now are all the things that her predecessors would largely have ignored, but for James are integral to the whole exercise. She has a magnificent skill for using landscape to evoke feelings of unease and solitude. Also, unlike those of her golden age predecessors her characters have three dimensional emotional lives, here they are all on some level struggling with faith. Be that in books and symbols, science or their agency to create lives worth living.

This isn’t James’s best book, that accolade goes to Shroud for a Nightingale (1971), it has though stood the test of time remarkably well and still works some good tricks on the reader.

I read this book in print for a mystery book club.

Getting this book in any format was a challenge. Almost 50 years old, only 2 local library systems owned any copies in any format.

I used to comment when I was a Librarian that if you asked for a copy of a book that was over 10 years old, it might as well have been 100 years old in terms of accessibility in any format. Especially with print copies, these books often were not on publishers' midlists, let alone backlists.

When you have buildings with finite shelf space, it makes sense, especially in branch libraries, that you cannot have a full range of works on the shelf. But here in Phoenix, even our main library does not keep complete sets of authors' works. That once was the goal, but then it was decided that we were not an archive.

Now, with the advent of e-book formats, one would hope that publishers would provide e-copies of old works such as this one to businesses such as Overdrive. But I don't really see this happening. Admittedly, people often want the latest items but I am sad that access to very good older works is so limited.

Enough of my soapbox. Let me say that this is a superlative mystery. The prose is so well written. It was a joy to pick up this book again after I had to put it aside.

There were many characters. Some of the names were similar, but not enough to confuse me. I felt that James did an excellent job fleshing out each person's unique aspects and perspectives.

As to the plot, there were lots of red herrings, which I enjoyed. In fact, when the final killer is revealed in mysteries, I am often sad that the book is over. Her use of detail as to 1977 police methods and interviewing is very well done. It is clear that she had many consultants.

This extended to the use of the fens as a location. The area became a character of its own as locals with their superstitions and suspicions of other people were detailed.

I was moved by how sad some of these characters' lives were. Some were worse than others. I found in general a great sense of how life can disappoint you and how your attitude and economic status can affect resiliency. In particular, the prostitute who is interviewed is a case in point: willing to take risks of being killed just to not be alone.

A great choice, if you can find it, for a mystery book club.

Commander Adam Dalgliesh and Inspector Massingham, from the Metropolitan Police, investigate the murder of Dr. Edwin Lorrimer (Principal Scientific Officer, Biology Department).

Lorrimer is an extremely competent forensic scientist at a police laboratory (Hoggatt's Laboratory, Chevisham Manor) in a village near Ely, Cambridgeshire (Chevisham).

Suspects are fellow employees and members of the local populace. Broken marriages (Dr. Henry Kerrison), illicit affairs (Domenica Schofield) and sordid encounters (Inspector Doyle) are all part of the mix.

The story centers on the personal behaviour of public school men, working in forensics, who should know better. Several of them have become prone to flouting religious rituals High Anglicans in this Evangelical swampland), school boy passions and secret meetings.

Some are vicar's sons (Kerrison, Dalgliesh - father's Norfolk vicarage) and all of them have had a privileged upbringings (Lorrimer's father travelled abroad a lot).

There is also, Paul Middlemass a Document Examiner, whose father had been a dentist

Exacting personalities and office politics exacerbate matters for the educated elite. Dr. Howarth, Hoggatt's Director, and Dr. Lorrimer are at odds about a recent board decision on Dr. Howarth's promotion.

They also disagree about the competence of an employee (Clifford Bradley, High Scientific Officer, Biology Department).

Meanwhile, the Fens scenery adds to a sense of dreariness in the lives of ordinary people post WW2.

One young girl has spent her life in foster homes (Angela Foley). Another has been murdered in a nearby clunch (quarry) pit.

Yet another (Dora Meakin), lives in a very lonely house (Hunter Fen) near an old Victorian engine house and doesn't have the financial mean to improve her life.

There is also Miss Willard, a live-in servant at Dr. Kerrison's house, is an alcoholic (dipsomaniac): "steals Daddy's drink."

Generally though, the locals are hardworking and honest. There are Mr. and Mrs. Albert Bidwell, one work on a farm, raising sugar beet, and the other, as the laboratory's cleaning lady.

Also, on a more positive note, younger people are being encouraged to get their education (Brenda Pridmore) by their families and employers.

Brenda is also engaged to Gerald Bowlem, the son of Brenda's father's boss, a prosperous local farmer (flat fields).

Some women are portrayed as being already professional competent including Claire Easterbrook, a senior scientist, Stella Mawson, a writer, , Dominica Schofield (an artist), and Susan Bradley (a former S.O. for Paul Middlemas).

Perhaps, the story is trying to mirror a forward looking picture for women, and a democratic postwar Britain.

Lingering biases are being put aside for an educated populace.

.....
Books and Topics
Plato's Republic
George Orwell
D. H. Lawrence
Jean-Paul Sartre: Being and Nothingness
Teihard de Chardin: Science and Christ
A Humanist Outlook
Simone Weil: First and Last
The Cambridge History of Late Greek and Early Mediaeval Philosophy
Greek primer and dictionary
Comparative Religion
Book of Common Prayer
Logical positivist
Chesterfield

I usually assume that audio gives a detective novel a bump of a half-star to a star. And, I had little patience for the Dalgleish novels when I was listening to them. But after I nicked this paperback from a B&B last weekend, I found it pretty compulsive reading. Maybe P.D. James is better read than heard. Or, maybe any light fiction seems fantastic when you read it right after "Moby Dick."

Great title, too.

2024: Gosh, maybe audio works against detective fiction! This one was just fine in the headphones, but more 3-star fine than 4-star fine.