From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

A Mind to Murder (Adam Dalgliesh, #2)

P.D. James

Start date: February 1, 2020

Finish date: February 29, 2020

Discussion: Group Challenges

Why we're reading this: The second book in our 2020 challenge to read the Inspector Dalgliesh mysteries.
[close] The second book in our 2020 challenge to read the Inspector Dalgliesh mysteries.

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Group Challenges

* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) by Agatha Christie
By Susan · 17 posts · 20 views

last updated Sep 25, 2025 01:00PM

* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) - SPOILER Thread
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last updated Sep 16, 2025 12:58PM

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What Members Thought

Apr 04, 2020 John rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: p-d-james

Very satisfying mystery I got it almost correct. The motive was staring me in the face. However, PD James teases us with a few red herrings. So who did it? A doctor, nurse, secretary, janitor? The list of suspects are strong with each having a motive.

Like Dalgliesch I tried to make it more complicated than it was. A psychiatric clinic with an administrator who cannot empathize and is disliked by everyone including her cousin who works there. Nagle a painter working there as a porter, his mistre ...more

19 likes · Like · see review

Oct 25, 2018 Shauna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018, modern-crime-uk

The plot centres around a murder at a psychiatric clinic in London. First published in 1963, this is the second of the series featuring detective Adam Dalgleish and we learn a little more about what makes him tick in this book, including his fear of failure despite never having allowing a murderer to slip through his grasp.
I thought the first 70 pages dragged a little as Dalgleish interviews each of the suspects in turn but the pace picked up and the writing at the denouement was very good inde ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Feb 08, 2022 Tony Fitzpatrick rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

My second detective story starring Inspector Adam Dalgleish. These novels are so beautifully written and crafted, each has clearly been a labour of love for the author, and the clarity with which she teases out each of the plot lines is delightful. A murder has been committed at a fashionable Psychiatric Clinic in London. The Office Administrator, rather a dragon, has been found stabbed in the basement where the medical records are kept. Dalgleish having hot footed it from a publishers office ne ...more

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