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Jan 24, 2009

Dorothy rated it:

When you pick up a P.D. James mystery, you know that you are in the hands of a professional. Cleanly plotted, meticulously detailed, characters revealed layer by layer, hers are the epitome of the "British mysteries" in the tradition of the great Agatha. It is a tradition that I know and love.

"The Private Patient" is her latest entry in the saga of Commander Adam Dalgliesh of New Scotland Yard. It is a police procedural with, as usual, James' touch of humanism. More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2008

Rebecca rated it:

I have been a fan of PD James forever and was sure that with her age, The Ligththouse would be her last Dagliesh novel. I was so happy to see that she had another story in her. I rated this 4 stars as much because I love James and her wonderful language. However, I didn't feel that it was her best book. I sensed that she needed to tie up a bunch of loose ends for her characters. Still, on a scale of 1 to 10, if PD James wrote a book that was not her best, it is still an 9 compared to other More...

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Apr 19, 2009

Shane rated it:

I decided to read a detective genre fiction book after a long time. An investigative reporter checks into a private clinic to have a scar removed and is murdered - it sounded like a good premise to work from.

I have to credit James, almost ninety, with continuing to write competent police procedural books which peep into the lives of her suspects, criminals and detectives. And yet, I found several aspects that grated on me: the intruding concern for plot summations at various points More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 04, 2008

Jessica rated it:

There's a reason P.D. James is a master of the well-worn English mystery genre, and The Private Patient is a good example of why. Superficially, this could come straight from Agatha Christie land -- a muckraking journalist checks into a country manor house that has been purchased by a plastic surgeon from the family that could no longer afford to run it for use as a luxury cosmetic surgery clinic, and is murdered the night of her operation. It soon is revealed that many members of the household More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 20, 2011

Migdalia rated it:

I cannot get a PD James Dalgliesh book without becoming totally addicted to it. I am never bored. I am never without anticipation and questions, and I am always heartened at the fact that the investigators have the same questions I have or are filled with the same curiosity. I will leave the plot summaries for the book covers and B&N website. It's enough to say that it's a typical PD James book: of the highest quality.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2008

Ed rated it:

Of the three great post-modern talismans--race, gender, class--P.D. James has chosen class as the ongoing theme of her books, inteweaving discussions of the fine (or not so fine) distinctions shown by accent, birthplace and school into her terrific mysteries.

"The Pivate Patient" has been hoped for by her fans almost since the publication of "The Lighthouse", published in 2006, hit the shelves. James was 80 years old when she finished that one and we didn't know h More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 12, 2008

Nette rated it:

I found this to be so leisurely -- pages-long descriptions of car trips through the countryside, detailed listings of the stuff in every room -- that I had to force myself to finish. But I'm giving it 3 stars because for God's sake, this woman is 88 YEARS OLD. I can barely find my car keys and she's still cranking out byzantine mystery plots.

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2008

Dana rated it:

I wrote this review for the Poisoned Pen's eNews:

What could be more English than a country house murder? In The Private Patient P.D. James summons up the shades of Conan Coyle and Agatha Christie in murder most foul of a patient at a stately country manor turned medical clinic. Means, motive and opportunity are all on offer for everyone on the premises, from the self-absorbed doctor, the idealistic assistant, the lovelorn nurse, the dispossessed heir and the devoted nanny to the ov More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 12, 2011

Black Elephants rated it:

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1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 29, 2008

Nat rated it:

I guess I'm channeling my mother (who died last year). She was an English teacher who loved to read P. D. James' mysteries. When I saw this on the shelf at Borders, I thought of her and bought it. Now I see why she enjoyed reading James' works. She is an excellent writer, rich and visual. Next time I read one of her books I will keep a dictionary at my side. What a fine way to increase my vocabulary! Of all the current murder/mystery writers active today, James is probably the best WRITER More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2012

Lorraine rated it:

I've read some reviews saying that this was not as good as previous novels, but I liked it because I like P.D. James' writing. She has so many potential murders - everybody has something in their past that makes them suspect. This book takes place at a private hospital on the south coast of England where a famous writer has gone to have a scar removed from her face. That evening, groggy from the anesthetic, the lady is murdered. Dalgleish is called in at an inconvenient time (he had a weeken More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 25, 2009

caitlin rated it:

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1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2008

Linda rated it:

I always enjoy this series, but I didn't think it was her best. The plot seemed a bit convoluted and while she tied a lot of personal ends up (for the characters), the actual mystery wasn't entirely neat. I suspect this may be the last in the series, although she doesn't specificaly say that.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 06, 2009

Mary rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 14, 2009

Elisha rated it:

Not James' best but still James! I liked the way she ended this novel. I did feel some of the extra information within the mystery was too much/padded. Also, Commander Dagliesh's life outside of the actual case felt disjointed but I still enjoyed the book overall.

Maybe it's me, but I felt like James' was "tidying" up the mainstay Dagliesh characters' stories to have somewhat of an end in case...
I also thought she was reflecting on death in the story (besides the actua More...

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Dec 03, 2008

Amy rated it:

Very consistent with the other Dalgliesh novels - I had to read this one a bit more slowly than usual because the author has taken a lot of time with her use of language. I will likely read this one again because the writing was so lovely and evocative.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 23, 2009

Missmath144 rated it:

Adam Dalgliesh returns to solve the murder of Rhoda, an investigative reporter who goes to a lovely private clinic in the country to have an ugly scar removed from her face, a scar her drunken father inflicted upon her as a child and of which she said, "I no longer have need of it."

As usual with P.D. James, the book is beautifully written. What I don't recall in her previous novels are the occasional social commentaries. At 88 years of age, I guess she's ready to comment on More...

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Jan 07, 2009

Diane rated it:

P. D. James is now in her 80s, yet she still continues to send Adam Dalgliesh out to solve murders. Dalgliesh, a detective who also writes poetry, is a dark and moody character, someone who, as an infant, survived the Blitz of London, even though his mother did not. It has occurred to me that Dalgliesh must be getting on in years, unless James has set her novels twenty years ago. In this novel, maybe feeling his years, Dalgliesh has decided it's time to settle down, quit the detective business, More...

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Jan 05, 2009

Daisy rated it:

I only seem to update when I didn't really like a book, but maybe I just want to warn everyone. James started out as such a compelling mystery writer and her prose is still good, but her books have become more and more tedious over time. She's become, I think, far too enamored of her own regular characters and too much of the writing is focused, not only their thoughts and feelings, but of the minutia of their actions. I think it was almost page 200 before we read about an interview with a su More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2012

Mark rated it:

A new departure for me as I was listening to this on my journey last week to Liverpool as an audiobook. It meant as I wound my way through rural Dorset and up into Wiltshire and on up to Bath before finally getting on to the motorway if I got stuck behind those people who only seem to drive once a year and then always in front of me I didn't have the normal frustration that seems to ride personnified as a regular passenger on those journeys. Listening to a well read book made me a more patient d More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 22, 2011

David rated it:

OK, I confess it, I am addicted to English Detective fiction. Given that revelation, how could I possibly not gush over this 14th. mystery by Dame P.D.James featuring the archetypical poet/detective Adam Dalgliesh? While I found the prose to be elegant and the narrative arc appropriately English, that is to say, patient, I was not satisfied. Despite deft descriptions and sentences of clarity overflowing with rhythm and rhyme, I had the sense that I had already visited Cheverell Manor--the scen More...

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Sep 26, 2011

Loretta rated it:

I've only recently started to read PD James, always been a Ruth Rendell fan. But Rendell can be very dark at times and leaves a sad taste. I do enjoy James's books and this seems to me to be a valedictory book...Dalgleish marries at the end and Kate gets back her boyfriend and all is neatly wound up. It was, as always a good story, beautifully written and interesting but it did get a tsd 'Midsomer Murders' towards the end which spoilt the elegance for me...I hate these bizarre murders . . . More...

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Aug 11, 2011

Susan rated it:

The Private Patient is P.D. James at her best, and I can't wait to say it, so I will: I am a huge mystery reader, and a P.D. James fan, and, for what it's worth, this is the very first time I've gotten lucky and guessed the perpetrator.

The story begins when an investigative journalist has elective surgery to remove a facial scar, and recuperates at a clinic in a fictional town in Dorset where, after undergoing a successful operation, she is murdered. Adam Dalgliesh, along with Kate Mis More...

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Feb 11, 2011

Katie rated it:

This is the first novel I have read written by P.D. James. While it did not stand out to me in any way, it was a decent read (or a decent listen, actually) while cleaning my new apartment. I get the sense that she is a skilled writer capable of slightly better writing, so I am eager to read more of her work.

This police procedural mystery is the 14th outing in a series center around police commander Adam Dalgliesh. While I'm sure I would have benefited from reading the series from More...

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Aug 27, 2010

Sara rated it:

To my mind, P.D. James is just about the best mystery writer today, and all the more remarkable because of her age. Her mysteries take on the feel of literature rather than genre, as the characters struggle with the basic human vices, always resulting in murder. Her premier detective, Adam Dalgliesh, is familiar to anyone reading any of the earlier books. Personally, I've read them all. He's evolved greatly over the years we've been with him, a man of many fascinating sides.

As to More...

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Jun 04, 2010

Laura rated it:

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3 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 23, 2010

Bruce rated it:

This is another of P.D. James’ Adam Dalgliesh mysteries, the first I’ve read in a few years. I have found that they have always engaged me, although perhaps the more recent ones felt as if they were becoming a bit formulaic - maybe I’d simply read too many in too quick succession. At any rate, beginning The Private Patient I was again reminded of how perceptive James can be, how her interpersonal insights are often acute, especially regarding the subtleties of intimate relationships. And I wa More...

8 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2010

Don rated it:

I've been a fan of James for years, and look forward to reading each new entry into this series featuring the Scotland Yard detecitve Adam Dalgliesh. However, this, her most recent book to be released in paperback, was a serious drag. It wasn't the page-turner good detective novels should be, the actual detecting and puzzle-solving work in the book was extremely light, and the resolution disappointing.

For me, James' strength has always been in her ability to efficiently build profi More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 01, 2010

Gerald rated it:

Sometimes one simply has to swim against the tide. So here I am resisting the undertow from thousands of P D James fans.

There was a time when the classic 'English' mystery story could maintain a grip. The staple props, country manors, locked rooms, plodding policemen, brilliant detectives, earned their devotees. If Agatha Christie became almost a caricature of herself, John Dickson Carr, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers and others carried the torch. It came as a surprise to someone who More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 08, 2009

Nicola rated it:

Reason for Reading: I'm a fan of P.D. James.

Summary: Rhoda Gradwyn goes to an exclusive manor, which houses a plastic surgery and recuperation facility, out in the English countryside to have a large scar on her face removed, one she has had since childhood. The morning after the operation she is found strangled to death in her bed. Being only one of two patients, a nurse, an assistant doctor, a small household staff, and a couple of on property live-ins the suspect list is limited. More...

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