false 4162673 0571242448 9780571242443 1041 317 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4162673.The_Private_Patient 344522 P.D. James 18656 2059 4 6 false Fri Sep 26 13:58:20 -0700 2008 Mon Nov 17 11:43:17 -0800 2008
I am a PD James fan from way back. So when I opened this book I expected three things. Firstly, I expected to get a typical English countryside revealing its most threatening and mysterious side. Secondly, I expected a dysfunctional group of suspects figuratively cut off from the rest of the world and bound together by secrets, professional ties, misguided love and jealousy. Lastly, I expected a well constructed and complex plot. I was not disappointed on any level.

When investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn booked into Mr Chandler-Powell's private clinic in Dorset for the removal of a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar, she had no idea that she would never leave Cheverell Manor alive. Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate the murder - and all too soon a second death - and get to the truth. The team consists of Detective Inspector Kate Miskin and Detective Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith as well as Dalgliesh, who has been dragged from planning his wedding to the elegant Emma.

This is a proper old-fashioned English detective story with an assortment of suspects none of whom appear on the surface to have a motive. Truths are uncovered and the picture is slowly pieced together. The one thing that really bugged me, and maybe the answer is there and I missed it, but when Rhoda Gradwyn was asked why she wanted to get rid of her scar she answered "because I no longer have need for it". The reader doesn’t learn why she no longer had need, surely an important reason as the removal is why she went to meet her eventual death.

While I enjoyed THE PRIVATE PATIENT, it is not one of James's best works. Dalgliesh seemed a little tired as a character. His heart wasn’t in this investigation and he seemed to be almost working on remote control. Also, I got a strong feeling that this could be Adam Dalgliesh’s final appearance. Something in the way all the t’s were crossed and the i’s dotted in the epilogue – finalising a lot of threads – strongly suggested to me that P.D. James has finished with at least some of her characters.
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