Featured Author - Dec 2014 - P.D. James

[Kimberly]

The Featured Author for December is P.D. James!

Here's a link to her site: http://www.randomhouse.com/features/p...

ADAM DALGLIESH Series:
Main Character: Adam Dalgliesh, Scotland Yard, Poet, London
Cover Her Face
A Mind to Murder
Unnatural Causes
Shroud for a Nightingale
The Black Tower
Death of an Expert Witness
A Taste for Death
Devices and Desires
Original Sin
A Certain Justice
Death in Holy Orders
A Mind to Murder
The Lighthouse
The Private Patient


CORDELIA GRAY Series:
Main Character: Cordelia Gray, Inherited a Private Detective Agency, London
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
The Skull Beneath the Skin

STAND ALONES:
Innocent Blood
The Children of Men
Death Comes to Pemberley (A continuation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice)

[Marisa, Cozy Mysteries Assistant Moderator]

I think this month I'm out. Her style is too much "realistic" for my tastes, and the two books I could like, I've already read both of them: Death Comes to Pemberley and Talking About Detective Fiction.

[Kimberly]

I watched Death Comes to Pemberly when it was on PBS earlier this month.
I may try An Unsuitable Job for a Woman if I have some time.

[Heather L , Cozy Mysteries Moderator]

I read The Children of Men of ages ago, soon after it first came out, and liked it. The only other book by her in Mount TBR is The Lighthouse, which I recently found at one of our neighborhood's Little Free Libraries (there are two), so guess I'll try to get that one in and hope I don't miss too much picking it up so late in the series.

[Lynn]

Kimberly wrote: "I watched Death Comes to Pemberly when it was on PBS earlier this month.
I may try An Unsuitable Job for a Woman if I have some time."

I have only read An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and Cover Her Face. I enjoyed them both, but I would give the slight edge to An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. At some point I'll probably finish those series but I have other things on my list currently.

[Sharmon]

I don't think I have ever read any of these but I have always wanted to. I will read The Lighthouse even though it is near the end of the series....simply because I already have in my stacks and I am seriously trying to reduce my number of physical books.

I was sorta surprised to see this as our featured author only because it doesn't really fit the typical "cozy" standards, especially because the main character is a member of law enforcement. I am looking for to finally sampling this author.

[Tricia]

I have several of her books on my shelf and have never read any of them! I'm going to try A Taste for Death. Looking forward to this author.

[Sabrina]

I own The Children of Men, so I might move this to the top of my TBR pile so I can participate in the author discussion as well.

[Nell]

Fabulous choice! I read Death Comes to Pemberley last month just before watching the PBS Masterpiece rendition of it.
I've read the Cordelia Grays and several of the Adam Dagliesh. I'll pick up the series again with A Certain Justice and Death In Holy Orders.

[Dianne]

Thee BBC is reporting that PD James, died this moening aged 94



http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment...

[Sabrina]

Oh goodness... may she rest in peace.
It now seems even more appropriate to focus on her books next month.

[Heather L , Cozy Mysteries Moderator]

I just saw the news of her death while checking a local news site for today's forecast. So sad!

[Marisa, Cozy Mysteries Assistant Moderator]

Sad and yes, an appropriate homage.

[Glenda]

A very sad day. The world has lost a great writer.

[MissJessie]

RIP

[☯Emily]

I wouldn't classify most of her books as cozies. Yet, it is appropriate for us to read her books in December as a memorial to her and her writings.

[Melodie]

I saw the notice about her passing on Facebook earlier. The only book of hers I ever read was shortly after it was released back in 1993. It was a very good book, not so much a good movie, even though it had Clive Owen in it.

[E.L.]

So sad to hear about her death. She contributed much to this world. I've read a few Dalgliesh novels, as well as Death Comes to Pemberley, and I'm looking forward to trying the Cordelia Grey books next month.

[Kimberly]

It's so sad to hear of her death. I hadn't heard of her before, but I had seen the movie, The Children of Men, never realizing it was based on a book. Usually, I try to read the book a movie is based on because they are always better. :) I've only ever found one movie I liked better than the book (Practical Magic). I am really looking forward to reading some of her books this coming month and thankfully, my library carries most of her books. :)

[Kimberly]

I originally chose P.D. James because she came up quite a few times when I was looking for mystery writers that were considered classic writers.

Wow. I was really surprised to see the news of her passing.
Even if I can't get to one of her books this month, holidays and eggnog getting in the way, I will definitely read one of her books.

[Sabrina]

I checked my library last night and it turns out I own another of her books: The Murder Room. According to GR, it's the 12th book in the Adam Dalgliesh series.

Can I just read it seperately or is it necessary to first read the previous 11 books in the series in order to be able to follow the storylines? I don't really want to read about previsouly solved mysteries in this book, I find it kind of ruins the fun when you eventually pick up the previous titles.

[Kirsten]

I love P.D. James and was so sad to hear of her death. I have read nearly all of her Adam Dalgliesh series as well as DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY. However, I would not call her books cozy.

For one thing, they are far too detailed and intricate. They should really be classified as psychological. I find sometimes I have to re-read chapters or keep a list of the main characters.

[ஐ Katya (Book Queen)ஐ, Cozy Mysteries Group Owner]

Great Choice Kimberly. I was going to suggest her after I heard of her death, but you beat me to it.

[E.L.]

Finished reading An Unsuitable Job for a Woman yesterday. As with the Dalgliesh novels, I found it a bit dreary for my taste, but well-crafted and with very good bits. Cordelia's passionate defense of love toward the end was very well done, I thought.

Even though James isn't my usual "cup of tea" as a writer, I do admire her as a person very much.

[Tricia]

I've had several of James's books on my shelf for quite a while and finally got to read one! A Taste for Death is definitely not a cozy! This book took a lot of concentration to adapt to her sophisticated style of writing. Because she is British many of the terms were different than I was used to, but once the characters were introduced (in detail!) and the story got rolling, the mystery was a good one that held my interest. I did enjoy her work, but like the ease of simple cozy mysteries when I need a light read. Glad I finally got to her books and am sorry to see she just passed away. She will certainly be a classic mystery author who will be read forever.

[Viji]

I started An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by P.D. James today. This is my first book of P.D. James.

[BJ Rose]

As I finished the last chapter of Cover Her Face this morning, I had the feeling that I've read this book before, and several other episodes in the book seemed familiar, but it is not in my list of books read, and I've been keeping track of those for many years - oh, well!

If this were any other month, I'd probably go on to the next Adam Dalgliesh - A Mind to Murder - but Christmas is swiftly approaching and much still to be done, so will save P.D. James for another time; I know her books will be there, even tho she is not.

[Viji]

Completed An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by P.D. James. Initially, it was a bit dragging and after 50 pages it picked up pace. It has some very good parts and some seemed contrived to me. Anyway, I could complete this. I loved Cordelia's spirit that no job is unsuitable for a woman.

[Anastasia]

Finished reading Death in Holy Orders. I would definitely not class this as a cozy mystery, but rather a classic detective story. It was quite heavy going and very involved, although very satisfying.

[Sabrina]

I'm going to start reading The Children of Men now, it's the first book by P.D. James I've ever read and to be honest, I'm a bit sceptical about it as I normally don't read a lot of science fiction...

But, we'll see how it goes, who knows, I might be pleasantly surprised! :-)

[Heather L , Cozy Mysteries Moderator]

Sabrina wrote: "I'm going to start reading The Children of Men now, it's the first book by P.D. James I've ever read and to be honest, I'm a bit sceptical about it as I normally don't read a lot of sc..."

I'm not big on science fiction, either, but I read this one when it first came out, and thought it quite good. Have yet to see the movie to see how it compares.

[Viji]

I started Cover Her Face by P.D. James today. I think I have enough time to complete this before the deadline!

[Sabrina]

I have just finished The Children of Men and I'm sorry to say I was a bit disappointed with this book. I though the concept of the world original enough, but the way it was written was rather boring and I felt no real connection to any of the characters.
I only hope P.D. James's mystery books are more to my liking.

[Viji]

Completed Cover Her Face by P.D. James today. This is a faster one than An Unsuitable Job for a Woman.

[Kimberly]

I started with Death Comes to Pemberley. I love Jane Austen and recently started re-reading some of my favorites of hers. Amazingly, Pride and Prejudice isn't one of them. ;) But, I still wanted to read this continuation. And, I rather liked it. James did a nice job with portraying the characters in keeping with Austen. :) I also liked the mystery, that it wasn't too obvious who it was (although it was obvious who it wasn't, even with all the "evidence" against him).

The next one I read was Cover Her Face. Although this isn't really a "cozy" mystery, I still enjoyed it. And, although all the evidence pointed to one character, I knew they didn't do it. And, ultimately, I couldn't believe who turned out to be the murderer! I found the way James went through all the different steps the police went through, like interviewing suspects, rather interesting. She also jumped from one point of view to another, and even entered the mind of the killer, but still, I had no clue who it was until Adam Dalgleish revealed them. I would like to read more of these stories.

The last one I read was An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and again I enjoyed the book. Even if it didn't quite have the ending I expected (don't want to post any spoilers for those who haven't read this one yet). My TBR pile is getting even longer, cuz I'd like to read more in this series, too.

[Kirsten]

I would never consider P.D. to be a "cozy" writer, even though I've loved all her books. I only have to read The Private Patient and I'll have read all her mysteries. I've read DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY and I really liked it. I have yet to read her non-mystery works.

[Kirsten]

A bittersweet moment. I just finished reading The Private Patient . A very satisfying and enjoyable read. Unfortunately, it is the final (??) Adam Dalgliesh novel by Baroness James.

Though, I can always hope that they find a manuscript among her things and maybe her estate will hire someone to finish it. That has been known to happen. Maybe Ruth Rendell or Minette Walters can finish it for her.

Like I have said before, Baroness James is NOT a cozy author. You need to have all your wits about yourself when reading one of her mysteries. They intricate, well-plotted, and well-staffed by characters and motivations. That being said, she is one of my very favorite authors. I may just have to go back to the beginning and re-read all her work.

[Kimberly]

I just made it... :) I finished The Children of Men just this morning. My last book finished before the end of the year. I was not as impressed with this one as the three mysteries I read. It was rather slow, although the idea was a good one. Too much time was spent on the characteristics of society. The movie had more action in it than the book, but I can't say I was too impressed with either one. I will stick with her mysteries. :)

[Glenda]

Read them all. Loved every one. She will be missed.

[Heather L , Cozy Mysteries Moderator]

Still working on The Lighthouse. It is not a fast read. :-\

[Heather L , Cozy Mysteries Moderator]

Finally finished reading The Lighthouse by PD James at 2 am this morning -- not intentionally. Last time I looked at the clock it was going on midnight and I was getting close to the end. Before I knew it, "one more chapter" turned into 2 am and the book done. Yeah, I'm dragging a bit this morning. :-|

Pretty good mystery, though I did feel a bit lost as far as character backstories went, having never read anything in this series previously. I did correctly guess whodunit, but not the why.