I gave it 3 stars because of the writing that is beautiful, but I would prefer only 2 stars because it's becoming boring because of too many details

I do pick up new James novels from time to time, but always with the same misgivings. It's a bit like not giving up on visiting your alcoholic brother, though you know he's most likely going to start sober and be drunk and unreliable by the time the visit draws to a close.
I do like P.D. James quite a bit, but I love Agatha Christie. P.D. James is a much better writer; Christie is a much better plotter. With James's mysteries, even the best ones, you never know, and can never trust, where the plot is going: there might always be a new element added right before the end that completely twists the path of the story. With Christie's best mysteries, clues are faithfully laid at the reader's feet, cumulatively and with little trickery.
*** minor spoilers ahead *** A Taste for Death is a great example: it's well written, captivating, then a new witness steps in close to the end. New lines of inquiry open up all the time. So there is no element of suspense - and you kind of want that in a mystery novel, right?

A cleverly crafted murder mystery weaving together many different strands of investigation, characters and events. It was of particular interest to me as an important line of investigation was at Cookham where a young woman had drowned in the Thames. The area was described so accurately that I recognised exactly where this took place because I am very familiar with the Thames at Cookham. There was a lot of bloodshed involved in this story so not for the squeamish!

P D James writes such amazing prose. This is a very dense novel with murder very much in the background and the focus being on the people involved with the case. Mostly upper class British types who have much to hide and unhappy police officers.

*Actually is a clear 3.5

RE-READ in 2024
I have no memory of having read this previously, but apparently I did. Two bodies are found with their throats cut in a church vestry in London; one is a homeless man, known to the neighborhood and one is a Member of Parliament. Daglish and his team investigate how these two men came to be killed or was it a murder suicide? As usually with any P.D. James novel, there is a lot of backstory on all the suspects and witnesses. That is my favorite part of her novels. The final resolution/hostage situation was a little overly dramatic, however; that is not something I look for in P.D. James. I was impressed with James’ writing chops here. I know that it is a very slow moving crime novel with a lot of extraneous detail, which doesn’t work for many readers, but it works for me.

Too many unlikeable characters and the characters that were actually likable were treated shabbily. Hard to get into too.

Great set of characters, good plot, Dalgliesh one of my all-time favourite detectives..

This is #7 of the Adam Dalgliesh cop-poet mysteries series (and I think the first mystery that I have read by the very prolific PD James). While I think having the protagonist be both a cop and published poet is interesting (from a character development perspective), I found the two elements to be grating at times (e.g., when Adam goes off on wordy, literary tangents, or the author gives long descriptions of Victorian architecture, etc). However, I did find the plot itself to be pretty good, with a few twists and turns along the way, and I would definitely read another mystery story by PD James.

This had more twists than the average P.D. James novel. The action really picked up in the last hundred pages. James pays a lot of attention here to providing complete arcs for minor characters, which is a nice touch. The book doesn't just end when the detectives figure out who the murderer is. The characters continue to make choices, trying to make the best of their circumstances, and we get to explore the effects of all these actions. It's even poignant. Good stuff.

Sir Paul Berowne and a tramp found with their throats slit in a church. At first it looks as if Berowne slit tramp then his own throat. Very complicated, but that's what Dagliesh is good at. Berowne inherited lordship from his brother who died in war. His first wife died in car accident with him driving. His current wife (was his bro's fiance) is having an affair with her cousin, a doctor. Brother-in-law is an actor who sponged of him and had flings with housekeeper and nurse.

It was the brother-in-law. When he is close to being caught he takes (officer) Kate and her grandmother hostage. Grandma dies.

Dagliesh hasn't been able to write poetry for 4 years. Kate Miskin is from projects, a bastard raised by grandma. Has lover Alan Massingham.

An excellent mystery described from multiple viewpoints. The three detectives involved all have real depth of character as do a number of the supporting characters. Well worth reading.