I read a short story by P.D. James about 3 weeks ago, ‘The Victim’, and liked it a lot — I liked this novel also. I must say I was about 100 pages into it and still found it boring. Just goes to show…and why I am less apt to abandon books midstream…. sometimes a book can turn around and capture your attention.

4 Stars

*An astute and easy to read classic mystery*


Classic Mysteries make great in-between reads. They are quick, engaging, and easy to read. And there is something comforting in the formula of murder-investigation-justice. So I decided to check out the next book in the Adam Dalgliesh series.

In the first book of the series, I was surprised how little Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh was actually in the story. He was barely more than a cameo. I’m not sure whether or not he was intended to a continuing character. But in A Mind to Murder, Dalgliesh plays a larger role. You also get to learn more about his background and personality, although there is certainly still plenty of room for expansion.

n  “Right and wrong stood for him as immutable as the two poles. He had never wandered in that twilight country where the nuances of evil and good cast their perplexing shadows.”n

As with Cover Her Face, A Mind to Murder is as much about the characters’ reaction to the murder as it is about the actual murder investigation. The cast consists of mostly morally grey characters whose flaws are evident as they simultaneously try to cast aspersions and avoid blame for the crimes committed. Also in keeping with the first book, many issues of the time period are woven throughout the story giving it a bit more depth and reality.

n   “She would not wish anyone violently dead but, since it had happened, one might as well make the most of it.”n

A Mind to Murder is not exactly a locked room mystery, but there is a limited pool of suspects which affects both the investigation and the suspects’ reactions to each other. The actual mystery still kept me guessing although it was not groundbreaking. Overall, this was a solid installment in the series.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

This is the second Adam Dalgleish mystery and was originally published in 1963. Most of the novel takes place in the Steen Psychiatric Clinic, which deals mainly with affluent and often artistic patients. These problems are dealt with in ways which, in 1963, seem to herald the beginning of the Swinging Sixties – with one patient undergoing treatment using LSD. This was a time, of course, when such legal drugs were still seem as harmless and experimental.

Miss Enid Bolam was the senior administrator of the clinic and is found murdered, leading to Dalgleish being called in to the investigate. Rather like the first book in the series, “Cover Her Face,” the victim is not greatly liked. Indeed, Miss Bolam’s colleagues all seem to agree that she lacked humour and tact – and, although unlikeable, these are not character traits which really suggest the character should be killed. However, there are other possible motives, including revenge, fear and money…

I am really enjoying re-reading the work of P.D. James. I suspect that reading the first two books in the series so closely together did emphasise similarities, but I am looking forward to reading the next in this classic series.

The 2nd Adam Dalgliesh of the series and we got a bit further into his character in this outing. This was more towards the end of the book though and whilst the book was well executed, I got a bit muddled with the introduction of all the medical staff early in the novel.
This definitely affected my enjoyment verbal, but the last third of the book was up to the writer’s high standards.
We have a closed group of suspects all working for the Steen Clinic, a psychiatric specialist clinic where the Administrative Officer is brutally murdered one Friday afternoon.
Our victim is not the most likeable of characters, but has her heart in the right place, which can’t be said for many of the other employees. There were plenty of red herrings and I certainly fell for one of them.
We have a group of highly intelligent suspects in the main, but will they be clever enough to confuse Dalgliesh?

here's a little story for you...

so a famous San Francisco lobbyist - a lively raconteur, a darling of the media, and an infamously debauched homosexual - had a birthday celebration. because this was a man who helped build the careers of many politicians, his birthday party was a rather public affair and was heavily attended by the local glitterati, including our illustrious mayor. this turned out to be an exceedingly unconventional event: activities included the carving of satanic symbols on various 'models' and the insertion of a Jack Daniels bottle up the host's anus. naturally, the media became quite absorbed by the spectacle and - in particular - the guest list. reporters began interviewing local politicians and power-brokers, and most of the interviewed denied being in attendance. happily, Mayor Willie Brown had a rare flash of honesty, and in his interview, responded along the lines of:

"Well of course I was there. Everyone was there. But by this time tomorrow...no one will have been there at all."

the true story above is also a completely spoiler-free clue to solving the mystery of A Mind to Murder - delivered to you free of charge!

PD James' early novels featuring detective and poet Adam Dalgliesh are straightforward, old-fashioned murder mysteries. although i missed the complexity and richness of her later narratives, her steady hand at plotting, psychological & emotional acuity, and ability to evoke a very specific atmosphere and setting were apparently intact at the start of her career.

I continue to appreciate James' writing style and her characterizations. This installment in the series was interesting for its setting in a psychiatric out-patient clinic. This gives us the limited number of perpetrators for the murder which takes place in the clinic. We do get outside of the clinic to learn about the home environments of potential suspects, and also of the victim.

She lets us know Dalgliesh better. I'd like to know his partner, Martin, a little better and hope to as the series continues.

I was surprised to see that I gave the first in the series 4-stars, and am happy to give this one the same. I liked this one more, so there is definitely a range to be seen in my 4-star group.

Not too much to say about this one. I thought it was a solid mystery for the second book in the Adam Dalgliesh series. I just found myself getting bored after a while since it was really obvious who the murderer was (at least to me). There are some other secrets that are spilled, but other than a couple of major ones at the end, none of the rest had much to do with anything I thought. I do think the flow could have been tighter too. We just stayed too long with the suspects and I wanted to be walked through Dalgliesh's brain as he figured out the guilty party. Too bad though that this one shows how Dalgliesh was off about who done it and why.

"A Mind to Murder" finds the administrative head of the Steen Psychiatric Clinic murdered. The woman, Miss Enid Bolam, was bludgeoned and then stabbed and left in the basement of the clinic. When the doctors and nurses find her it becomes apparent that whoever did the murder never left (the doors are locked) and it has to be one of their own who did it. Adam Dalgliesh is called up after sitting through a reception for his recent book of poetry (yeah I hard paused there too) and feels nothing but dread since he feels like the murderer is not done.

James walks us through Dalgliesh's life since the first murder where we came across him. It's been three years and Adam still thinks of Deborah (see "Cover Her Face") but realizes that he's not ready to start again with another woman. Adam works methodically through all of the suspects, and hits on someone fairly early that he doesn't care for or trust. Just like "Cover Her Face" though we have a victim that a lot of people had a hard time liking and finding to be too black and white about things. However, unlike with "Cover Her Face" I thought James did a good job of showing us another side of Enid Bolam. She was a woman who liked flowers and children.

The other characters in this one started to feel a bit tiresome after a while, at least to me. We have Dr. Paul Steiner and Dr. James Baguley, both men with secrets. We also have Doctor Frederica Saxton's story-line that also gave me hard pause too. I don't even get the purpose of that whole thing except for Dalgliesh to have someone else speak to who has even more messed up views of marriage than he does. Enid's cousin, Nurse Marion Bolam also worked at the clinic. There was a bigger cast of suspects to think on in this one, but I thought that James did a good job with developing them. For example, one of the porters, Peter Nagle we find out is an artist, and only working at the clinic for money. He's supposedly very talented, but I find myself thinking he was creepy. When James reveals his relationship that he is having with someone there, we pull back another layer dealing with him.

The writing I thought was good, but honestly the flow was off. I think the book needed to be edited a bit tighter since we tended to wander around in some of the characters story-lines way too long. For example, the whole thing with Frederica was one of those story-lines.

The setting of this clinic also echoes some locked door mysteries a la Christie, though I have to say that this one wasn't that intriguing. We are given some very blatant clues in the beginning of the book and through another character telling their roommate about something they overheard. After that I was in a hurry for Dalgliesh to get there already.

The ending though at one point made me worry that I had guessed wrong, but nope, instead we get information about something else and then jump over into the epilogue that takes place months later.

From the Book Jacket - When the administrative head of the Steen Psychiatric Clinic is found dead with a chisel in her heart, Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate. Dalgliesh must analyze the deep-seated anxieties and thwarted desires of patients and staff alike to determine which of their unresolved conflicts resulted in murder.

My Reactions
This is an engaging, interesting and complex murder mystery. I love Dalgliesh and his quiet, deliberate manner. I also really appreciate how James gives us background detail on the characters, revealing a little at a time, much as we’d learn about someone in real life.

James crafts a plot that seems straightforward, but which includes numerous red herrings to keep the reader off balance. She certainly had me guessing, and even when Dalgliesh was closing in on the suspect, the author had another surprise in store. Well done!

In this second installment of Adam Dalgliesh, the administrator of a psychiatric hospital is murdered (another woman, as in the first installment.) There are a number of things that are better in this book than in the first one, but I can't say that I care that much for the earlier books in this series--the one I've liked at 4 stars came out 45 years after this one did, and 31 years after the first one I ever read. Perhaps I should stick with the 21st century ones.

Отново ниска оценка давам, въпреки че имаше моменти, които четях с интерес преди да стигна края.
Адам Далглиш разследва убийство в клиника "Стийн", където се оказва, че се извършват нередни работи. Това поставя клиниката и хората, които работят там, в неизгодно положение. Странно ми беше, че правят психотерапия с ЛСД (психоактивно вещество) на пациенти, което ги дезориентира. Смятало се, че така ще измъкнат информация за травмите им и ще ги излекуват. През повечето време имаме разпит на свидетелите, разговори за убийството и накрая не можах да разбера кой всъщност е истинския убиец. Струва ми се, че осъдиха невинен човек, който беше обвинен от самия убиец, а него съдиха като съучастник. Ако правилно съм разбрала края, това никак не ми хареса, защото и детективите останаха с това погрешно убеждение. Всичко се реши без някакви конкретни доказателства.

When the administrator officer dies under suspicious circumstances with a handful of suspects, Adam Dalgliesh finds himself plowing through evidence, motives, and less-than-forthcoming suspects to make an arrest. While I suspected the perpetrator, it was not completely obvious. Still the story seemed tedious in places. The library held two Overdrive audio versions and after listening to samples of both readers, I selected the one by Penelope Dellaporta who seemed to use more voice inflection and read at a more relaxed pace.

Another good cozy mystery from the Adam Dalgliesh series. This time, the majority of everything takes place in one place namely the Steen Psychiatric Clinic. Miss Bolam the administrative officer is found dead in the archive. She was not very popular and therefore everyone had something to hide. Dalgliesh's job is to filter out all the negative emotions everyone has, so that he finds the essence. In this commissioner coincidence helps to put things into perspective. Dalgliesh has to hurry to prevent another murder from happening.
This story is psychologically very skillful and let me guess for a long time, who the villain is.
(4½)