An intriguing contrast to the more modern crime novels I read a lot of, this had a style and craft that was admirable, for all that it also felt somewhat staid and predictable in places. Here PD James writes the story of Dalgliesh's investigating the murder of a dowdy spinsterish administrative officer at a psychiatry clinic. It's cleverly plotted, for all that deconstruction reduces the novel to ~30 pages of set-up, 150 pages of mainly police interviews, then ~30 pages of denouement. Well described, however, and tightly done - enjoyable even with the slightly dated sense it left me with.

En mycket tidig Adam Dalgliesh-deckare inte alls i nivå med "Fyren" och "I mördarens rum". Han är redan nu en framgångsrik poet, här med en fru som nyligen dött i barnsäng. För torftig miljöskildring. Boken översattes förståeligt nog inte till svenska förrän år 1989.

Not bad as a mystery (lots of suspects, lots of possibilities), but the treatments going on at the psychiatric clinic (while incidental to the crime) were pretty horrific. This was my second James novel; I have one left to read and decide if I like these enough to continue. At this point it's not looking good.

4.5 stars. An un-put-downable ride, as twisty as a Christie and in some ways all the more fascinating with the dated details of how the NHS treated mental illness when it was written.

Доста скучна книга. Общо взето нищо съществено не се случи. Давам една звезда бонус, тъй като я слушах като аудио книга и прочитът беше доста приятен за слушане. Ако я бях чел, сигурно щях да заспя.

Definitely not PD's best book. I thought the motive for the murder was relatively weak, and I didn't care for the ending or any of the characters. Definitely a letdown from her first novel. I kept waiting for the big twist, but it never really emerged. A great case of the sophomore slump.

I didn’t like this one quite as much as the first. Still fairly interesting but not quite as satisfying for me personally.

There was also a negative race-based description of one of the characters near the beginning (saying they had long arms which “gave an impression of almost simian strength”).

I read this book in two days. A simple murder mystery set in an hospital for psychiatric patients. When you read each page begs you to turn over to the next page. It is an engaging page turner. But at the end when you look back it looks like an ordinary book with an ordinary plot. However, P. D. James knows how to keep you on the toes.

I wasn't keen on this book by James about Dalgleish, the second book in the series. For one thing, I couldn't keep the various mental health doctors (psychiatrists, psychologists) straight, who was sleeping with whom and why, and who would have motive. I can hypothesize why that might be given my own history, but keeping an eye on the writing, I don't think the author created sufficiently drawn out characters who we, it seemed, should remember and suspect.

For another thing, the ending was not entirely satisfactory. Partly, that seemed intentional because of Dalgleish's frame of mind, but the facts we were left with about the characters seemed somewhat hurriedly determined and described. Perhaps this ending will lead to further complexities of and focus on Dalgleish himself--I would like that, but I'm not sure I want to spend the time reading another book to see if that happens. Perhaps better yet to revisit the series with Roy Marsden and enjoy seeing Dalgleish. And while there's a new series that I may revisit as well, for now, James's books are on hold as I get to other books that are not murder mysteries in the queue . . . . Who killed the passion for reading this series? The author did it!

i did not like it at the beginning but looking back, it is okay. once again, my highschool english teacher forced me to read it and we bonded over it.

Upon hearing of the death of P. D. James, I decided to make my way through her Adam Dalgliesh series. I've read some of them, but it's been years ago. As usual James writes about an interesting cast of characters where a murder is committed at a psychiatric clinic. I read the first of the series earlier this year and have put four of James books on my 2015 reading challenge.

Great, pacy storytelling.