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656 ratings, 3.63 average rating, 85 reviews
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published
September 7th 2006
by Penguin Books Ltd
binding
Paperback, 480 pages
isbn
0141025107
(isbn13: 9780141025100)
description
P. D. James is the author of 18 books, most of which have been filmed for television. Before her retirement in 1979, she served in the forensics and c...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 813)
Read in April, 2008
It took me a long, long time to read this book. Perhaps that's because I was reading it in winter and the world outside my windows, like the world in the book, was blustery and cold. There was no sense of escape into an alternate universe, which is one of the things I look for in fiction. Then there's the fact that I've been very, very busy lately; I can usually scrounge only a few minutes a day for reading, and never at a time when my brain is really engaged. So the audience was undoubtedly par...more
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P.D. James is one of my favorite mystery writers. I enjoy her detective Adam Dagleish. The plot involves a the murder of a famous novelist on an isolated island. The population of the island is limited to people, usually famous, who have made a contribution to the greater good of society. It is designed to be a place of rest and relaxation where one does not have to bring bodyguards. Of course, there are staff to attend to the needs of the rich and famous but the question as always is who done...more
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Read in May, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
Mystery fans
Why this took me three months of off an on reading to finish this is my fault. It was the end of summer and I became stupid.
I liked her writing style and build of characters and scenerios. Fiction is suppose to display the human condition. So maybe suspence/mystery shows humanity at the extreme under stress and pressure. I thought the characters were believable. But the murderer supprised me and I felt it was rushed, too much of an epiphany by the detective instead of steady clues leading you ...more
I liked her writing style and build of characters and scenerios. Fiction is suppose to display the human condition. So maybe suspence/mystery shows humanity at the extreme under stress and pressure. I thought the characters were believable. But the murderer supprised me and I felt it was rushed, too much of an epiphany by the detective instead of steady clues leading you ...more
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Read in October, 2008
I have enjoyed the Adam Daghleish books and BBC TV versions for many years and I was not disappointed with this one either. The setting was interesting and the premise a twist on the traditional British house party murder but I do agree with some other reviewers who found the SARS outbreak a bit of a stretch.
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Read in June, 2008
A brilliant novelist is found hanged from a lighthouse on an exclusive resort island off the Cornish coast. Is it suicide or murder? Well, this is an Adam Dalgliesh book, so that's not such a mystery. And actually I guessed the murderer's identity pretty early, unusual for me reading James. But still and all this is good example of her work.
It has all her typical accoutrements: Several suspects with strong and sympathetic motives, well established before any violence occurs; AD and his team ...more
It has all her typical accoutrements: Several suspects with strong and sympathetic motives, well established before any violence occurs; AD and his team ...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommended to jill by:
Mom
I like that P.D. James uses a team of detectives and gives us all their perspectives in turn, along with the perspectives of most of the suspects. She doesn't create a new voice for each, it's the same narrator in a different head, but it still helps to vary the narration a bit. To be honest, I think 300 pages of Adam Dagliesh, poet-policeman, would do me in.
The SARS thing was weird, but otherwise I thought the plot and characters were interesting.
Also, "But that was in a different c...more
The SARS thing was weird, but otherwise I thought the plot and characters were interesting.
Also, "But that was in a different c...more
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Read in May, 2007
Adam Dagliesh is called out to a private island that caters
to famous, powerful or wealthy people who crave privacy to
investigate the murder of a famous writer. The suspect pool
is small and everyone has motive and opportunity. The case
is complicated by a second murder and characters suddenly
taking ill. As even Dagliesh falls ill, his Detective Inspector, Kate Mishkin, is tapped to take over the investigation. This book had a very different feel that the others I have read in the series,...more
to famous, powerful or wealthy people who crave privacy to
investigate the murder of a famous writer. The suspect pool
is small and everyone has motive and opportunity. The case
is complicated by a second murder and characters suddenly
taking ill. As even Dagliesh falls ill, his Detective Inspector, Kate Mishkin, is tapped to take over the investigation. This book had a very different feel that the others I have read in the series,...more
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Read in August, 2007
I really love good mysteries, but over the years I've read them only very sporadically. There are so many more Important Books to read, & my reading time used to be quite limited.
Now that I'm reading at least five days a week on my longish train rides home from work, I have updated my library membership. So I can read some mysteries without having to buy them--yay! I had known of P. D. James for years, but this is the first book of hers I've read. I thoroughly appreciated it: beautiful d...more
Now that I'm reading at least five days a week on my longish train rides home from work, I have updated my library membership. So I can read some mysteries without having to buy them--yay! I had known of P. D. James for years, but this is the first book of hers I've read. I thoroughly appreciated it: beautiful d...more
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Read in November, 2008
I liked this mystery up until nearly the end, when the sudden revelation of the solution seemed a bit too convenient.
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
those who have read other Adam Dalgleish mysteries
Not my favorite P.D. James mystery, but I like her work in general, and enjoy the ongoing development of the Adam Dalgleish character. Many of her novels are set in East Anglia, a big plus as far as I'm concerned.
When I first started reading P.D. James, I noticed immediately that she uses very little visual description, unless it's required. She spends almost no time telling us whether someone is tall or blonde unless is bears upon the story. It's an interesting trait which I found only n...more
When I first started reading P.D. James, I noticed immediately that she uses very little visual description, unless it's required. She spends almost no time telling us whether someone is tall or blonde unless is bears upon the story. It's an interesting trait which I found only n...more
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Read in July, 2007
Do not read this review if you are still reading the book :)
This is the first PD James book that I have read. I tend to not like mysteries. Not sure why, but I did enjoy reading this one. The character's were well developed and the storyline kept me reading. I was thouroughly happy with it until the last few chapters. I felt that it ended too abrubtly and it wasn't believable to me, how it all came together in the end. I never had that "aha!" moment that you tend to have when r...more
This is the first PD James book that I have read. I tend to not like mysteries. Not sure why, but I did enjoy reading this one. The character's were well developed and the storyline kept me reading. I was thouroughly happy with it until the last few chapters. I felt that it ended too abrubtly and it wasn't believable to me, how it all came together in the end. I never had that "aha!" moment that you tend to have when r...more
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Read in October, 2006
Although this book was a considerably better read than many other new mystery offerings, it does not rank among my favorite PD James novels--if you are looking for a really great James read, I recommend Original Sin or Devices and Desires. Overall, it was a good read; however, the plot line becomes too predictable early on, and many of the cast of characters seem flat and underdeveloped. I love the "can't put it down" reading frenzy I enter in the last third of mystery reads; I didn't...more
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Read in August, 2007
Listened to this on audiobook mostly in the long boring stretches of Nevada - I kind of heart P.D. James, as she seems like a modern day Agatha Christie, and the book was read by Charles Keating, who I sadly remember from the soap opera "Another World." I've decided audiobooks are most fun when performed with British accents. P.D. does tend to too frequently stoke my involuntary feminist rage, though. And in the end it's just a decent mystery, so no more stars for you, The Lighthouse
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I'm not a mystery reader. That is, not a classic mystery reader, except for Sherlock Holmes and dipping into an Agatha Christie to see what all the fuss is about. But generally this is not my genre. PD James is a fantastic writer though, and it was a pleasure to read this penultimate in the Adam Dagleish series-the final one out this November I think.
Again a British local, tightly drawn setting and characters you can picture and hear easily. A good plot and great ending...
Again a British local, tightly drawn setting and characters you can picture and hear easily. A good plot and great ending...
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Read in November, 2007
Not the typical mystery/suspense book that I normally read. Not overly suspenseful, but it kept you guessing like a good mystery book should. I enjoyed the way it was written and language selection and usage was at a higher level than typical mystery books (e.g. Cornwall, Reichs, etc...). I enjoyed this book and will probably read more from this author. While it was a book in a series it was not necessary to have read previous books to understand the characters. Very good.
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Read in March, 2007
recommends it for:
brit mystery fans
Not my favorite P.D. James novel, but still very good. It took a long time to get exciting but I was definitely smitten at the end. I need to read Children of Men next, but have no idea what that will be like because I've only ever read her mystery thrillers. This is not your typical detective story...you need to understand that Madame James writes with so much depth of the human spirit that you could never compare her to Doyle or, gasp, Mary Higgins Clarke!
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Read in May, 2007
Wasn't a big fan, although almost every lady in my book club liked it. I found it extremely contrived and frankly rather boring. I guess I enjoyed the "britishness" of it as another reviewer was saying, but there were too many characters, their introductions were way too long and didn't make me care about them, and who needs a page long description of the inside of each person's cottage? They were obvious anyhow.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in July, 2007
This was a pretty formulaic whodunit, apparently one of a series involving the main character. There was a decent twist at the end - I couldn't figure out who the killer was before the author was ready to let me in on it. The biggest disappoinment was in character development. Even by the end of the book, I really didn't care much about any of the characters, why they had motive, or whether they were guilty.
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Read in July, 2008
My first P D James novel, and it certainly does what it says on the tin, i.e., delivers an easy to read, well-paced detective story.
It's a job hazard, but I couldn't help skimming through whole chunks of text that my analyst brain felt were not crucial to solving the mystery. So perhaps I didn't get as much of the novel as I should have, but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless.
It's a job hazard, but I couldn't help skimming through whole chunks of text that my analyst brain felt were not crucial to solving the mystery. So perhaps I didn't get as much of the novel as I should have, but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless.
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