An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (Cordelia Gray, #1) in Around the Year in 52 Books

Aug 02, 2017 Donna rated it really liked it

This was my first P. D. James novel (if you don’t count Death Comes to Pemberley which was a DNF for me).

The book was written in the 1970s and stars Cordelia Gray, a 22-year-old fledgling PI who has just inherited the agency of her former boss following his death. Cordelia is hired by a prominent British scientist to investigate the reasons why his son committed suicide. As Cordelia follows the trail, she becomes convinced that the young man had been murdered. Throughout her investigation, she c ...more

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Nov 23, 2009 Graceann rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

Cordelia Gray is on her own with her detective agency. She has bills to pay and no new cases in sight. Then an elegant woman turns up and asks if Miss Gray will assist in her employer's quest to determine what caused his son to kill himself.

It took me quite a long time to determine what era this book was meant to be placed in. Until Cordelia mentioned having grown up watching television, I assumed from the situations, attitudes and styles of the characters that it was somewhere between the Wars ...more

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Feb 16, 2019 Ron rated it liked it

Cordelia Gray is a young woman tutored in the craft of being a private detective, despite the frequently repeated observation made in the book's title. When her mentor commits suicide after getting a cancer diagnosis, Miss Gray inherits the detective agency as her own. The agency is no cash cow, she has inherited debts and no clients.

Just as she faces the poverty and idleness that seem to afflict every pulp fiction detective, she is retained by a wealthy scientist curious about his son's recent ...more

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