The Skull Beneath the Skin by P.D. James

[Susan]

This is the second (and last) Cordelia Gray novel - the first being An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, a previous buddy read, which was published in 1982, ten years after the first book.

Clarissa Lisle hopes to make a spectacular comeback in a production of The Duchess of Malfi, to be played in Ambrose Gorringe's sinister castle at Courcy Island. Cordelia is there to ensure her safety following the appearance of a number of poison-pen letters. But it soon becomes clear that all are in danger. Trapped within the walls of the Gothic castle, the treacherous past of the island re-emerges, and everyone seems to have a motive for sending Clarissa 'down, down to hell'.

Please do not post spoilers in this thread. Thank you.

[Susan]

I have started listening to this and am enjoying it very much so far.

[Judy]

I've started this too, and I am quite surprised there was a 10-year gap as the atmosphere is so similar to the previous book. I do love her writing style.

Who else is reading this one (or has read it before)?

[Roman Clodia]

I'm planning to give James another try but it may be a few days before I start this. That plot sounds quite familiar - is there a Josephine Tey that involves an actress getting threatening letters? And maybe also one of Antonia Fraser's Jemima Shore mysteries?

[Jan C]

I read this when it came out. I thought it was okay. I think I liked it better than the first one.

[Susan]

I think it is James style I enjoy, more perhaps than the plot. After all, we have had enough mysteries featuring actresses to fill a largish bookshelf by now! However, I really do enjoy her writing.

[Sandy]

I picked this up, read a few pages and decided I was not in the mood (the length didn't help). I'm off to read a Georgette Heyer and will return in a couple of days.

[Susan]

This quite a long book, I agree, Sandy. I am nearly finished it now and I have been listening to it, off and on, over a week.

[Susan]

I have finished this now. Overall, I liked it a lot and it will be interesting to compare the Cordelia Grey books to the Adam Dalgliesh novels next year.

[Lesley]

I started this last night - listening to it. I haven't read the book before, nor have I ever started it before, but the opening was so familiar! For a moment I wondered if it was how the first Cordelia Gray started, and/or I'd picked up the wrong book. I checked the beginning of the first book and it wasn't that, so I'm still puzzled as to why I found it so familiar. Very confusing for a while.

[Sandy]

I am also reading and enjoying it now (got over my funk). Liked the description of her apartment, and the comparison between living room and bedroom.

[Susan]

Sometimes it's just not the right book at that time, Sandy. I am glad you have given it another go :)

[Judy]

Lesley wrote: "I started this last night - listening to it. I haven't read the book before, nor have I ever started it before, but the opening was so familiar!..."

Lesley, you didn't have the start of the second book included at the end of the first one, did you? This has happened to me a couple of times - I've read an extract, forgotten about it and found myself confused when I come to start the next book and think I've read it already, lol.

[Judy]

Sandy wrote: "I am also reading and enjoying it now (got over my funk). Liked the description of her apartment, and the comparison between living room and bedroom."

I'm a few chapters in now and enjoying it too - love the description of her apartment, which I think would be far more expensive and fashionable now!

[Judy]

The book has a very Golden Age feel to it with the poison pen letters and the private theatricals. I also like the fact that the manservant, Munter, is said to try to imitate Wimsey's valet, Bunter - bit of a tribute to Sayers thrown in there! It definitely feels as if it is set at a much earlier period than the 1970s or 1980s.

[Lesley]

Judy wrote: "Lesley wrote: "I started this last night - listening to it. I haven't read the book before, nor have I ever started it before, but the opening was so familiar!..."

Lesley, you didn't have the star..."

I don't recall that being so, but then I can think of no other reason for that opening to be so familiar. Anyway, I'm enjoying the story, and wondering why Cordelia wasn't kept going as a series. Maybe James just got so involved with Dalgliesh she just plain forgot Cordelia.

[Judy]

Yes, I wonder why she didn't carry on with the series, too - maybe it was easier to find convincing plots for a police detective to investigate than a young P.I.?

[Lesley]

Yes, and as you say this has quite a number of GA similarities that maybe she was feeling her way into this area but didn’t find it so comfortable.

[Sandy]

Adding to the puzzle, why write the second book ten years after the first? She must have had mixed about Cordelia.

[Roman Clodia]

Judy wrote: "It definitely feels as if it is set at a much earlier period than the 1970s or 1980s."

Yes, maybe this is why I'm struggling with Cordelia (as I did in the last book). The mix of stylised GA elements doesn't mix well with the feministy message ('an unsuitable job for a woman'). I feel in desperate need of some humour to lighten the whole thing up... and I'm only on chapter 4!

[Judy]

It's frustrating me that I don't know the plot of The Duchess of Malfi - I will have to look out a film of it! Makes a change from having Shakespeare productions in mysteries, anyway - we also recently had a production of Amadeus in another mystery, one of the Caroline Grahams I think?

[Judy]

Roman Clodia wrote: "The mix of stylised GA elements doesn't mix well with the feministy message..."

Interesting - I would say there is a similar mix in some of the older books, like Sayers' Harriet Vane ones, but maybe it's a bit more uneasy here?

I am really enjoying this one, though, and love her writing style. I can see you are right that there isn't much humour, but there is a sort of quirky, playful element to it which works for me.

[Roman Clodia]

Malfi is about another woman who oversteps her gender - at least according to her cardinal-brother and duke-brother. A widow, she woos her steward and secretly marries him. There are some very macabre scenes featuring a dead hand, and duke-brother believing he's a werewolf...

[Roman Clodia]

That's true about the Harriet Vane books which I love - I suppose, though, the GA bits fit the time whereas did people really mix professional and amateur dramatics in private theatres in the 1980s?

I agree with the literateness of the writing. I wonder if I might just prefer the Dalgleish books when we come to them?

[Judy]

Thanks for the info about the Duchess of Malfi. I will have to see or read it soon.

[Roman Clodia]

It's worth searching for The Globe's production from a few years ago with Gemma Arterton as Malfi - it was at the Sam Wanamaker indoor playhouse lit with flickering candles and wonderfully eerie and atmospheric.

[Susan]

I must admit I found even Harriet Vane a little trying and do prefer her and Lord Peter either married, or apart, but the tedious on-off, oh I couldn't possibly, drove me mental.

I think someone mentioned why there was no Cordelia Gray books for ten years in another thread, but I can't remember what it was now. I will try to track the comment down.

I like P D James writing style and this is a little old-fashioned, but I am looking forward to reading all the Dalgliesh books. The first in the series is not great, but then they get much better.

[Susan]

Did anyone think of Of Then There Were None while reading this? Just in term of setting and the island? James always says she disliked Christie, but I find lots of similarities in her work.

[Judy]

Susan wrote: "Did anyone think of Of Then There Were None while reading this? Just in term of setting and the island? James always says she disliked Christie, but I find lots of similarities in her work."

Yes, the invitation to an island made me think of that book, and the private theatricals reminded me of Ngaio Marsh and Michael Innes, probably others too.

[Susan]

There seem to be so many amateur theatricals in our books :)

[Judy]

Roman Clodia wrote: "It's worth searching for The Globe's production from a few years ago with Gemma Arterton as Malfi - it was at the Sam Wanamaker indoor playhouse lit with flickering candles and wonderfully eerie an..."

Thank you, I've just found that the Globe has its own "Globe Player" offering this production for streaming - I may have to watch it on my computer, though, as I'm not sure if there is an app for any of the platforms I own. I will investigate.

[Lesley]

A little bit of Marsh (theatrical theme); a little bit Sayers; a little bit Christie (setting) whether James liked her or not, quite similar to Christie in the wrapping up too; a little bit Innes (Hamlet, Revenge!). In fact a very GA feel, but written in the 1980s. The ending certainly implied Cordelia is going nowhere further.

I did enjoy the book for the story and particularly the writing of James. She certainly has a soft spot for Adam Dalgliesh. She couldn't resist sneaking him in there again! I'm looking forward to our Dalgliesh challenge in 2020.

[Roman Clodia]

I'm struggling... 100 pages in and we've only just got to the island with the suspects still being introduced. I can't help comparing with the deft way Christie would have done all this in a handful of pages.

[Lesley]

That’s another similarity to Marsh. Taking half the book to set the scene and introduce the characters before getting to the point. Sometimes with Marsh it can be a bit tiresome, but James’s writing was so well done in telling the story I didn’t mind in this book so much.