After Postern of Fate I decided to try my first-ever PD James. My library has a pretty miserable selection so I wasn't able to find any of her first novels, though I like to try to read in order where possible. The earliest one available was n  Death of an Expert Witnessn, so that's the one I got.

It was a delight to read this mystery, especially as a change from the mediocre and pedestrian Postern of Fate. The writing is very good and the mystery well-constructed with detail after detail falling neatly into place. This is an "ensemble cast" kind of book and each one of the side characters is sketched in vividly no matter how small his or her role. Caring about the characters, even the unsympathetic people, makes the solution to the mystery very suspenseful.

I only have a few nitpicks with the writing. First, though characterization is clearly a strong point of James's, description certainly isn't. There was too much description of locations, with too much detail, given more or less as a list. It's really hard to focus when you're getting inundated with "to the left of the door was a small table, and beside that was a chair, and beside that was a bookshelf," etc. Second, the detective hero, Dalgliesh, is oddly vague, considering how well the other characters are depicted. I don't know if his personality comes across better in any of her other books, but here he is the only character I didn't get a strong feeling about. The blurbs on the back compare him to Alleyn and Lord Peter, but that seems a stretch if he doesn't have any personality at all. Apparently he writes poetry? Which I should care about because --?

I think part of the problem is that James skips around between POVs so much. I think she writes from almost every character's POV at one point or another, sometimes changing mid-paragraph. It's a bit hard to follow and I think contributes to the vagueness about Dalgliesh. As I said, every side character is interesting, which is great, but it seems we pay for the quantity with a lack of quality in the main characters.

Anyway, given the good writing and plotting overall, this wouldn't prevent me from reading more James. In fact I'm looking forward to the next.

During the investigation of a local murder, we are introduced to the people who work at Hoggart's Laboratory, a forensic laboratory written and set in the 1970s. Dr. Lorrimer, who will, of course, be murdered (it's in the book description) is not at all likable, and we have been introduced to a slew of people with possible motive, and not one of them particularly endearing. Adam Dalgleish enters the picture in the second part of the book; there is nothing endearing about him, either, although his associate, Massingham (with a name awfully close to one the Hoggart's employees) comes close to being endearing.

During the rest of the novel we continue to read the stories of the various suspects as well as the investigation. I really had high hopes that this would be a four star read, but it's difficult to do that when I am not actually rooting for any of the characters even though I did want the mystery to be solved. No doubt this is likely to be better in a film.

After two PD James novels, I suspect I'm done with her writing. Pity.

During the investigation of a local murder, we are introduced to the people who work at Hoggart's Laboratory, a forensic laboratory written and set in the 1970s. Dr. Lorrimer, who will, of course, be murdered (it's in the book description) is not at all likable, and we have been introduced to a slew of people with possible motive, and not one of them particularly endearing. Adam Dalgleish enters the picture in the second part of the book; there is nothing endearing about him, either, although his associate, Massingham (with a name awfully close to one the Hoggart's employees) comes close to being endearing.

During the rest of the novel we continue to read the stories of the various suspects as well as the investigation. I really had high hopes that this would be a four star read, but it's difficult to do that when I am not actually rooting for any of the characters even though I did want the mystery to be solved. No doubt this is likely to be better in a film.

I wanted an easy and short read after completing War and Peace and reached for a murder mystery by an author I'd never read before. I didn't know what to expect, though P.D. James is a highly acclaimed mystery writer.

The book began with a flurry of character introductions, some of which required some pretty ugly dialogue (think George Lucas ugly). But once the story got going I became absorbed by all the twists and secrets revealed as a result of the murder investigation.

The last half of the book was gripping and hard to put down. I'm definitely going to keep my eyes open for more James mysteries.

Meticulous is as good as any single word to sum up the author: her plotting and precise use of words always feel very carefully planned and while elements of her style grate (whenever our star detective has a feeling about something he is almost invariably proved right, for example) it makes for a satisfying mystery more often than not. This is a solid example of her craft and though I only got round to reading it 40 years after it was published I still enjoyed it _ not least because I enjoy that careful use of the English language, even if it makes for slower going at times.

May 8, 2023 Update Trailer is up for Season 2 of the new series of Dalgliesh (2021-) with Bertie Carver as Inspector Dalgliesh, see on YouTube here. Season 2 will cover books #6 Death of an Expert Witness, #10 A Certain Justice and #12 The Murder Room. Dalgliesh has DS Kate Miskin as one of his main assistants in the new TV series already in Season 1, unlike the books, where she came in later.

Laboratory Lust
Review of the Sphere Books paperback (1978 orig./1986 reprint) of the Faber & Faber hardcover original (1977)

nI used to think that we can have almost anything we want from life, that it's just a question of organization. But now I'm beginning to think that we have to make a choice more often than we'd like. The important thing is to make sure that it's our choice, no one else's, and that we make it honestly. But one thing I'm sure of is that it's never a good thing to make a decision when you're not absolutely well. - Adam Dalgliesh gives advice during Death of an Expert Witnessn

Detective Commander* Adam Dalgliesh and his assistant DS John Massingham, both of Scotland Yard CID, are called out to investigate the death of Dr. Edwin Lorrimer at the East Anglia Forensics Laboratory. Lorrimer was chief of the biological department of the laboratory and did not get along well with his colleagues. He was also recently overlooked for promotion to the position of Head of the Laboratory with the hiring of an outsider, Dr. Howarth.

The tight security procedures at the laboratory would seem to indicate that the murderer had to be someone with inside knowledge of its workings. Due to the way Lorrimer belittled or resented his colleagues, there are no shortage of suspects. It also becomes evident that the murderer had to have a special set of skills in order to exit the laboratory after the crime. This was probably the most significant clue (it was only mentioned briefly in passing) to the solution which begins to be clear when witnesses are able to narrow down the time frame of the crime. But then there is yet another murder.


Front cover of the original Faber & Faber hardcover edition (1977). Image sourced from Wikipedia.

I read Death of an Expert Witness as part of my continuing 2022 binge re-read of the P.D. James' Adam Dalgliesh and Cordelia Gray novels, which I am enjoying immensely. James is truely at the height of the Silver Age of Crime authors and puts most modern mystery writers to shame with her extensive character backgrounds and plots often set in confined communities where an atmosphere of paranoia and foreboding reign, until the cool, often detached detection of Dalgliesh is able to arrive at a clarifying solution.

Trivia and Links
* In Book 1, Adam Dalgliesh was a Detective Chief Inspector, in Books 2 to 4 he is a Detective Superintendent and in Books 5 to 14 he is a Detective Commander.

Death of an Expert Witness was adapted for television in 1983 as part of the long running Dalgliesh TV-series for Anglia Television/ITV (1983-1998) starring actor Roy Marsden as Commander Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard. You can watch the 7 episodes of the 1983 adaptation starting with Episode 1 on YouTube here. The adaptation is reasonably faithful to the novel.

The new Acorn TV-series reboot Dalgliesh (2021-?) starring Bertie Carver as Adam Dalgliesh has adapted Death of an Expert Witness (Dalgliesh #6) as Season 2 Episodes 1 & 2. Season 1 adapted Books 4, 5 & 7. See the Season 2 trailer here.

A girl's body has turned up in a clunch pit (clunch: a hard chalk used as building stone) in East Anglia, but we don't care about her. Our focus is the Hoggatt Forensic Science Laboratory, one of whose forensic scientists, who just happens to be hated by many, will be bludgeoned to death before he can finish examining the evidence in the clunch pit case. The lovely Dalgliesh helicopters in with his appealing sidekick, Massingham, a deeply ordinary aristocrat. "The marvel of the Massinghams was that a lineage going back five hundred years could have produced so many generations of amiable nonentities." James can't seem to help her deep misogynistic streak; it's not enough for spinsters to be unloved, they also need to be vindictive and foul-smelling, their lipstick melting into the creases around their mouths, their hair rollers leaving fat sausage impressions in their hair, their stockings put on backwards.

Murder in a crime lab makes for an interesting twist. Speaking of twists, that's how my mind felt as I tried to keep up with the plethora of characters, their motives, their pasts, and their connections with one another. Still, I enjoyed, as usual, James' descriptive style [although her landscapes tend to stand more clearly than her people] and even the way she expresses the perspective of different characters during the course of the tale.

This is the third audiobook of P.D. James that I've read/listened to that is narrated by Penelope Dellaporta. I've enjoyed each one, imagining to myself that the narrator's voice is that of the author. (Flight of fancy, I know.) But it adds to my personal enjoyment of the experience.

Death of an Expert Witness is the sixth in the author's Inspector Adam Dalgleish series. It can be read as a standalone.

I find James' writing to be very much in the tradition of British mystery/police procedurals. Each is character-based and detailed enough for each scene to be imagined but not so much as to be tedious.

I'm looking forward to reading/listening to the seventh in this series.

This was another great twisty and turny Dalgliesh book by P.D. James. It seems with each instalment of the series it gets even more complex. Which I find greatly enjoyable.

Like most James readers I watched the series, so as I was reading the book the series played through my head.

And I am looking forward to the next book.

This is P.D. James? Wow. Not all it's cracked up to be, that's for sure. Read it in a nod to her recent passing; wish I had something nice to say about it. Heard a rumor that this isn't her best work, so today I picked up Cover Her Face, the first in the Adam Dalgliesh series, & I'll give it a shot for a second chance at my reading affections.

Autoarea a fost directoare in Departamentul de Politie si a primit titlul de Ofiter al Imperiului Britanic. Are numeroase romane celebre ca "Giulgiu pentru o privighetoare", "Atentie la crima", iar de la ea am mai citit doua carti: "Farul" si "Sala crimelor".
Romanul de fata a aparut in 1977 si face parte din seria cu comandantul Adam Dalgliesh de la Scotland Yard.
In ceea ce priveste actiunea: intr-o dimineata cadavrul unei fete tinere este gasit intr-o cariera de la marginea unui catun. Medicii stabilesc ca aceasta a fost strangulata. Cazul va fi examinat de patologii de la Laboratorul de Medicina Legala Hoggatt. Acolo lucreaza mai multi cercetatori si personalul aferent printre care si Edwin Lorrimer, pe care toata lumea il detesta. Nu este de mirare astfel ca in curand va fi gasit mort in propriul sau birou. Adam Dalgliesh soseste sa investigheze cazul.
Crima are loc destul de tarziu si numai dupa ce, ca in majoritatea romanelor lui P.D. James, am avut ocazia sa-i cunoastem pe indelete pe toti suspectii si motivele lor bine intemeiate.
Este un roman politist reusit cu o intriga buna pe care autoarea o sustine foarte bine pastrand misterul si creand niste personaje bine conturate si simpatice.
Pentru cei care prefera un first-blood timpuriu romanul s-ar putea sa para un pic obositor sau sa le epuizeze rabdarea pana se intra in miezul actiunii.
In ceea ce priveste cartea in sine doua lucruri mi s-au parut hilar de ciudate:
Primul ar fi numerotarea paginilor - langa numarul fiecarei file se afla si o cruce, ca la cartile religioase.
Al doilea, cel mai ciudat si lipsit de sens ar fi coperta in sine a exemplarului meu ce contine o imagine a unui medic cu o masca chirurgicala, imagine ce este plasata cu capul in jos. Astfel ca la prima vedere pare ca ar fi cineva cu lenjeria intima (adica niste chiloti mari mototoliti) trasa pe cap, ceea ce e mai mult decat amuzant.
Este greu de inteles care a fost intentia autorului copertii si chiar m-am gandit la o greseala de tipar - insa imaginea mai apare o data si pe spatele cartii tot asa. In concluzie habar n-am ce reprezinta toata aceasta tarasenie; cert e ca m-am hlizit tot drumul de la biblioteca pana acasa. Ca sa intelegeti despre ce vorbesc va inserez mai jos o poza cu ea:

In incheiere cateva citate pe care le-am selectat si pe care le atasez mai jos:
"Moartea, nu, cel putin nu mai grea decat nasterea. Nu poti avea una fara cealalta, altfel n-am mai avea loc toti pe pamant."
"Asta inseamna democratie. Un sistem supus greselilor, dar e cel mai bun pe care-l avem."
"Cand o crima patrunde pe fereastra, tainele ies pe usa."
"Mi-am dat seama ca o persoana isi iroseste repede atractia fizica, nu credeti? Dar daca barbatul e inteligent, intelept si are un entuziasm al lui, relatia capata un tel."