The Private Patient by P.D. James 3.5 stars rounded up

[Karin]

3.5 rounded up

On November the twenty-first, the day of her forty-seventh birthday, and three weeks and two days before she was murdered, Rhoda Gradwyn went to Harley Street to keep an appointment with her plastic surgeon, and there in a consulting room designed, so it appeared, to inspire confidence and allay apprehension, made the decision which would lead inexorably to her death.

Now that's a sentence that grabs one's attention, and, if you plan to do the 2020 Popsugar Challenge it will meet the "a book with a great first line" prompt. The writing is good, but I am not generally one to find mystery books more riveting than three stars, so this rounding up is a good sign for those who like British mysteries. There is a blurb on the main page that of course will tell you more about the story than did the first sentence, but it's holiday season and I am busy finishing a book a day, so am not writing too many of those myself.

I have not read the other books in this series and yet had no trouble jumping into this with number 14 even though I didn't know the backstory to any of the regular crew consisting of Adam Dalgliesh and his team.