Kovasti mietin 3 ja 4 tähden välillä, mutta päädyin lopulta 3 tähteen. Kirjassa oli paljon henkilöitä ja tapahtumapaikka ja yhteisö oli kiinnostava. Kuten myös ero 70-luvun ja nykyajan välillä. Syyllistä en todellakaan osannut arvata ja lopun epäselvien asioitten avaaminen olikin mielenkiintoista luettavaa. Loppu ei kuitenkaan nostanut mielipidettäni tästä tarpeeksi, kirja oli aika puuduttavaa luettavaa hitaasti edetessään pikkutarkassa kuvaillussaan etenkin alussa. Ja keskivaiheilla.

An old-school one, with plenty of gothic elements: the church, the chapel , the cemetery, swamps, bad weather. If you ask me, the first pages are somehow dull and may expel quite a lot of potential readers, but the plot is ok, the characters very well defined and the final unexpected.

So maybe we have not four full stars, but sometimes we have to defend our choices...

La verdad que mucho no me gustó, da tantas vueltas para contar algo que aburre.

Lo bueno: hasta las últimas 7 páginas no tenes ni la más mínima idea de quien puede ser el asesino. El libro gira en torno al descubrimiento del cuerpo de uno de los Dr. forenses de un laboratorio, pero a medida que indagan vemos como absolutamente todos los personajes tienen alguna razón y todos se vuelven sospechosos.

Lo malo: se desvía todo el tiempo del punto y, aunque, a nadie le hace mal un poco más de información de cada personaje, la mayoría de las veces me parecía que no hacía a la historia. La torna aburrida y nos confunde más.
Por otro lado, algo que no me gustó, el final. Fué abrupto como si quisieran terminarlo porque se quedaban sin hojas y nadie estuvo sorprendido excepto 1 o 2 personajes y , aunque no tenía ni la más pálida idea de quien podía ser, fué tan mal ejecutado el climax del libro que lo pasé como si nada.
Por otro lado, la autora se le dió por ponerle nombres muy parecidos a todos los personajes, lo cual volvía todo mas difícil.

No lo recomendaría.

This is by far the better murder-mystery story of the series. Combining Jealousy, obsession, and blackmail, P.D. James spins an interesting mystery around the murder of an "expert witness". The plot is cleverly done and the story is quite well written. James's intelligence and creativity as a mystery writer is quite evident in this installment. It looks as if James, by the time of writing this particular Dalgliesh story, has become literary mature.

James takes us yet again to a medically related setting - this time, it being a forensic laboratory. Mercifully, she concentrates more on the characters and the inner selves of the highly intelligent scientists, their subordinates, and the assistants without tiring the readers with scientific details. This character penetration was what was interesting in this story. They showed both the vulnerable and the malicious and the vindictive nature of those highly educated and well respected.

The story was well built and the curiosity and the suspense of the readers were cleverly maintained. There were both clues and enough red herrings, not to baffle the readers but to keep them guessing a little longer. The ending, however, was felt a bit bland. Its hurried conclusion did not do justice to the suspense that was so well built up to that point.

I enjoyed the authoritative and dominant role Adam Dalgliesh played in the story. And I also liked the subordinate officer John Massingham. He is so far the best subordinate officer the Commander got to work with. I truly liked the combination and their joint effort in solving the mystery of the murder, and sincerely hope James would humour me another time with their joint venture. :)

I enjoyed this Dalgliesh installment a lot, and if not for the falling at the end, I would have rated it higher. However, this installment was a good inducement for me to continue with the series, and also a good indication that the series will get better. But I do wish that James would soon outgrow of her preference for description to the molecule level! It really can be painfully irritating at times.

Another very solid mystery from P. D. James. A page of notes with character names and a few key identifying details helped me keep track of the major characters, and I think that removed a bit of the confusion that can sometimes creep in when James is bouncing between the many characters/suspects. The characters, as always, are drawn with good humanity. The plot is solid. The reveal and resolution satisfying.

There are a lot of characters in this. I found the novel constructed well enough that keeping them straight wasn't a problem. Even Dalgliesh's sargeant named Massingham, and one of the scientist's named Middlemass didn't offer even a moment to do a double take.

She continues to develop Adam Dalgliesh's character. In each installment, we learn a bit more or something different, so that with each read he becomes more fully-fleshed. I find it interesting that his sergeant isn't always the same man. Other mystery series seem to have a duo, but not here. It's noticeable, but not disconcerting.

The mystery is good. I'm not good at figuring these things out anyway and I laughed at myself when two of the characters announced they knew who did it - and I still didn't have a clue. The edition I read was unpaged (from a bundle). I can say with confidence that it was probably with fewer than 20 pages to go that I knew who it was, and that only when Dalgliesh was ready for the arrest.

It seems that in this sixth novel, P.D. James finally hit her stride. I say that having given 4-stars to four of the previous five novels in the series, so it isn't as if I thought the others weren't good. This is another 4-stars and sitting toward the top of that group. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Quiero dejar claro que no he terminado de leerlo. No he podido. No me gusta absolutamente nada la introducción de los personajes ni cómo empieza la historia. A lo mejor luego mejora pero el principio me es tan pedante que no soy capaz de leer más. A lo mejor es buena escritora pero este no es su mejor libro.

A short take:

I love the rhythm of a PD James mystery plot: the deliberate introduction of a varied cast and their multiple motivations, the sudden crime, the appearance of Dalgliesh and the gradual progression of the investigation. Dalgliesh ruminates that a police investigation lays bare the lives of the people who are touched by a homicide, and this fact motivates much of the story. I very much like PD James' style and her protagonist.


More thoughts:

It occurs to me that the mystery genre can be quite comforting: violent death is contained, the killer restrained by social convention and kept at an arm's distance, the police personalities present to navigate disparate facts that, usually, assemble a rational whole. James knows exactly what she is about in a murder plot and she steers the story with great skill. I'm already looking forward to once again witnessing Dalgliesh in his element.

πολυ φιλοσοφικο .την αγαπω

The murder of Dr. Edwin Lorrimer at Hoggatt’s forensics laboratory offers a particularly difficult challenge for Commander Adam Dalgleish. After all, the killer could be one of Lorrimer’s colleagues, and that person would know how to destroy evidence and mislead investigators.

Death of an Expert Witness contains all of P.D. James’s usual trademarks, including haughty professionals who barely have time for Dalgleish’s questions and an isolated institution filled with secrets. For those who’ve followed my reviews of James’s work this year, you’ll know her novels have been hit or miss with me, partly for their sameness and lack of interesting subplots or character development. This book, however, was one of the better ones because James did a good job of delving into characters’s personal lives and foibles.

There still wasn’t much in the way of subplots, and I don’t think Dalgleish changed at all. As usual, the story kept me guessing about the killer’s identity, but it all made perfect sense in the end. This book shows why James has gained so many fans. It’s an intelligent, complex puzzler exploring desperate aspects of need and loneliness.

A forensic biologist is found dead in his lab. There is no shortage of suspects and motives, and Adam Dalgliesh is on the case.

This is the first Adam Dalgliesh mystery I've read by James and I'm happy to say that I've found a new mystery writer to follow. As I read this book, I was struck by the human element that James brings to the story. There is no unrealistic lone wolf detective (which is so common in many mystery novels) or maniacal killer. There are simply people with shortcomings and passions and insights that ring true and make the finale heartbreaking in its reality. It's this human element that endeared me to James and also reminded me of another favorite writer of mine,Tana French. Throughout the book there is a recurring theme that murder is solved at a cost and contaminates everyone involved, the guilty and innocent. This theme sets James apart and has left me looking forward to reading more.

2.5/5 ⭐️

Una vez leí un libro de esta autora que me encantó. Lastima que no fue lo mismo en esta ocasión.

P. D. James se caracteriza por escribir novelas policíacas teniendo como investigador principal a Adam Dalgliesh.

El detective es llamado luego de ocurrir un asesinato a un forense en el laboratorio donde trabaja. Muchos sospechosos los cuales tienen coartada y ninguna prueba que incrimine al asesino.

La lectura me la encontré aburrida al principio, ya que era una introducción de los implicados desde el punto de vista de ellos. Luego empieza la trama, donde hay que tener buena memoria para no confundirse con la gran cantidad de personajes que aparecen.

Hay que destacar que aunque no fue un total acierto para mí la lectura, siempre elogiaré la manera de escribir de esta autora, es casi imposible saber quien es el autor de los asesinatos.