I enjoyed this outing with Commander Dalgliesh. Recovering from an illness he goes to visit an elderly friend in Dorset at Toynton Grange a private institution that looks after disabled people. On arrival he finds his friend Father Baddeley has died. The Commander stays on in his cottage to sort out some books that were left to him in the will.

Mysterious deaths occur and Wilfred the owner and manager is reluctant to involve the police. Julius an owner of a cottage on the grounds keeps popping up when something happens. Is he the murderer or is it one of the many able bodied suspects. Dr Eric, Helen or Millicent.

I like the detailed descriptions of the landscape and the flawed characters. The setting on a windswept headland close to the sea with a Black Tower that may be haunted all add to the atmosphere.

I enjoy Adam Daglish stories for their good writing and finesse.

Normally I love PD James. And I've enjoyed the Dalgliesh series so far. This one, however, was a disappointment. I felt like I was reading Sayers... and not in a good way...

3.5 /5

Another mystery done with and dusted up, this year.

As my most crime thriller reads are, this too was an impulse read, just to counterbalance the various slow paced, no-violence-involved, family oriented dramas that I was reading. P D James has always remained one of my favourite authors, because I savor the type of slightly soporific murder stories that she tells giving more importance to the surroundings and characters, and with a familiar chief investigator, in this case, Superintendent Mr. Alleyn, who writes poetry in his spare time. Alleyn is called upon by an old curate of his father who seems a bit perturbed in his letter. But he is recovering from a debilitating illness and reaches 11 days late to aid his old friend. He reaches the idyllic disabled person home set in the isolated sea coast of Dover, where rich as well as aid-receiving poor debilitated of all ages and sicknesses are enrolled, perhaps for life. The proprietor is a man who has been saved miraculously from a neurological illness, and is now a changed person trying to help others. His old sister, a grumpy old lady also lives there in a nearby cottage, after having sold her shares to him. The staff is composed of a motley of slightly ill reputed / retired or jobless people. After ALleyn reaches there, other inmates too are in peril, and a couple or so even perish under mysterious circumstances.

The mystery, when solved, baffled me. And I never guessed the perpetrator.

I loved the descriptions of the sea, the black tower and the way of life in the institute far better than the mystery as such.

Would recommend it only to well established fans of PD James. Others are sure to find it boring and dragging.  

Another Adam Dalgleish novel filled to the brim with details however little and a refreshing change coming off the back of a James Patterson.
There's plenty of suspects to keep you guessing until the end.

The usual PD James. Great Dalgliesh but a little different than the rest. He's off on his own, not trying to solve a murder. They just seem to find him! No other Scotland Yard types either. Adam, some questionable deaths, and a creepy black tower next to the sea in Dorset. If you're a fan of James, you'll like it. If you are a fan of tense British mystery, you'll like it and you'll be hooked.

AD is convalescing as he also tries to solve the mystery of why his priest friend wanted to see him. Alas, he's dead and so begins the dropping bodies. The name were confusing at first as she uses both names at different times. It was atmospheric but not gripping.

I had an extremely hard time falling into this work, and I struggled initially to continue reading it.

The story eventually lured me in at the halfway point and made sticking with it worthwhile.

I’m on to the next in this series and I am hopeful that it will be more to my liking.

Worst ever wasted time and money

Better than the others I've read. AD works much better when he's in the lead role. I still hate how there's no plot development and then suddenly some unknown piece of evidence (in this case a letter from beyond the grave) suddenly explains everything. But still mire interesting.

Commander Adam Dalglish, recovering from an illness that doctors considered fatal, having made a mistake with the diagnosis, decides to leave Scotland Yard, lead a quiet life, write poetry. That's when the letter from the priest comes to him. who knew him as a boy. After that, they did not communicate for many years, and now Reverend Baddeley serves at Toynton Grange. the very shelter, above which stands a black tower made of slate. The old priest asks to come, he needs to consult.

Surprised, the commander sets off to find an old friend dead. It alarms him. that some items that clearly should have been in Baddeley's cabin were gone. Besides, the old man's library is bequeathed to him, he will have to spend a few days at the Grange. Where more and more strange and suspicious things begin to happen.

"The Black Tower" is a slow, perfectly logically grounded detective, maybe a little more verbose than usual in our hurried age, but without unpredictable maniacs and without a newfangled passion for disgusting ways of killing. And the performance of the audio version by Igor Knyazev gives the novel additional charm and respectability.

A solid, interesting, logical and highly humane detective.

Легко ли быть инвалидом?
У вас эйфория. Это характерный признак вашего заболевания, многие больные со склерозом отличаются этим ни на чем не основанным ощущением счастья и надежды. С вашей стороны это никакая не добродетель, а нас всех такие штучки чертовски раздражают.
Речь не о том склерозе, при котором, как в старой репризе: "А я все забываю..." Рассеянный склероз чудовищное заболевание. Многоочаговая аутоимунная патология, при которой нормальная нервная ткань замещается соединительной, человеку постепенно начинают отказывать конечности, итогом становится полный паралич. От паралича дыхательных органов больной в результате умирает, даже при идеальном уходе.

В мире два миллиона человек с этим заболеванием, из которых в России - сто пятьдесят тысяч, это очень высокий процент от общего количества населения. В России об этом не говорят до сих пор, тема в числе стигматизированных. Англичанка Филлис Дороти Джеймс, которая писала классические детективы, включила рассказ о больных рассеянным склерозом в роман, написанный полвека назад - в 1975 году. Красноречивый пример разницы в отношении к инвалидам в западном мире и у нас.

Еще раз, объясню. чтобы понятнее: там, где проблему ставят, где о ней говорят, государство оказывается перед необходимостью реагировать, в бюджете выделяются средства для клинической и паллиативной помощи. Там, где не говорят, помогать, вроде как. и не нужно. Заболевший остается наедине с болезнью. События "Черной башни" разворачиваются в санатории для людей с заболеваниями опорно-двигательной системы, среди которых большинство составляют больные именно с рассеянным склерозом.

И Ф.Д.Джеймс умеет описать состояние своих героев предельно наглядно. Когда я читала "Дом, в котором" Мариам Петросян, пробовала ползать, опираясь только на руки, как это делает Лорд. Так вот, в процессе написания романа, автор, похоже, пробовала передвигаться по гладкому линолеуму с подушкой, как это делает Урсула — так уж подробно и точно описан процесс.

И это не единственный случай, когда читателю поневоле приходится погружаться в ощущения героев. Получать представление о том, что чувствует человек, обреченный на медленное умирание в становящемся все более чужим теле. Боль, стыд, обида. одиночество - весь спектр переживаний. К чести писательницы, она не нагнетает мрак намеренно, все это остается фоном для событий классического английского детектива с мастерски закрученной интригой.

Командер Адам Дэлглиш, оправляясь от болезни, которую врачи считали смертельной, ошибившись с диагнозе, решает уйти из Скотланд Ярда, вести тихую жизнь, писать стихи. Тут-то к нему и приходит письмо от священника. который знал его еще мальчишкой. После они много лет не общались, теперь преподобный Бэддли служит в Тойнтон-Грейндже. том самом приюте, над которым высится черная башня, сложенная из сланца. Старый священник просит приехать, ему необходимо посоветоваться.

Удивленный, командер отправляется в путь, чтобы застать старинного приятеля мертвым. Настораживает его. что кое-какие предметы, которые явно должны были быть в домике Бэддли, исчезли. К тому же, ему завещана библиотека старика, придется провести несколько дней в Грейндже. Где начинают твориться все более странные и подозрительные дела.

"Черная башня" неспешный, отлично логически обоснованный детектив, может несколько более многословный, чем привычно в наш торопливый век, но без непредсказуемых маньяков и без новомодной страсти к омерзительным способам умертвия. А исполнение аудиоверсии Игорем Князевым придает роману дополнительный шарм и респектабельность.

Добротный, интересный, логичный и в высшей степени человечный детектив.

Counterintuitively, I enjoyed this more as a novel than as 'crime fiction'. In terms of the latter, it's another story, like Unnatural Causes, where Dalgleish is off-duty. It's not even clear what needs investigating till way past the halfway mark. James suddenly seems to wake up and crams a whole lot of crime-y stuff into the final chapter including the Detective's Burst of Intuition, the Cornered Killer Climax, the Jeopardy on a Clifftop, and the Last Minute Rescue!

But before we're recalled to the crime tropes, there is much to enjoy in the weird setting (those monks' habits!), and, especially, the characterisation. After the way James trashed a disabled character in Unnatural Causes I was wary, but here she conveys a sense of the horror of a degenerative neurological disease like MS and gives her characters the dignities of rounded personalities. I don't think I'm ever going to warm to chilly, cerebral Dalgleish, but this story has more depth than we might typically see in this style of crime fiction.