Dalgliesh ja kuolema

This book may have been entirely too English for me to follow. The setup was really good - Dalgliesh receives a letter from his old prelate asking him to visit, then finds him dead when he does - and then come a series of really inexplicable scenes and characters. One character whom is described on

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the back as a vamp seems to be not particularly sexy, and it's never quite clear to me why many of the characters are living near this asylum, or why anyone would build a black tower out on the headland in the first place. What it came down to is that I never had any clue of what was going on until the end, which was funny, because the ending really wraps everything up neatly. All is explained, all is clear, and it all makes sense.

Maybe it's just that the middle part of the book goes so over-the-top on English eccentricism that an American thirty years later can't make sense of it. I would love to see how James would handle writing the same book again today.

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I got a little tired of the anthropomorphic objects. The interior musing of Adam Dalgliesh I didn't mind so much, but when the narration got a little too florid it took me out of the story. E.g: 'yellow dandelions, pinpoints of brightness on the faded autumnal grass' which concludes a lengthy intro

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of a landscape at the beginning of a chapter.
Some nice passage, p. 18 and p. 271 favorites, and a well done way of having the detective discover the truth before the reader, even though it's form his perspective. Did not guess this one!

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In these early novels, the cases we see Dalgliesh solve are ones he stumbles into while trying to be on vacation. Like Unnatural Causes and Devices and Desires, Adam is trying to get some space and murder just follows him wherever he goes. This time is a weird cloister like place that is a home for

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handicapped youths. He goes there because the priest who died wrote asking him to come. By the time Adam arrives, he is already dead. Some weird things surface & Adam thinks the death may not be entirely natural.

As time passes, more deaths occur. One is meant too look natural, another like a suicide. This is 4 deaths in the same little community. The first occurred before Adam arrived also, a patient accidentally fell off a cliff when his wheelchair brakes gave out. Or did he? He is the supposed monster of a man described in the synopsis, but really he was just a jerk made worse by his condition.

I had to think that the totally healthy guy who hung around this place for kicks was somehow involved. I mean if you’re a young, semi-wealthy person in the 1970s, you don’t hand out with sick, invalids because you have nothing better to do. Turns out that he and a partner were smuggling drugs in the patient’s wheelchairs whenever they went for their pilgrimage to Lourdes. It was kind of a stretch though since the amount of drugs was so small. Hard to believe that either partner could have made enough money off the stuff. The killings were to prevent those people who had found out, from telling.

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This book starts slowly and it was difficult for me (as it was for Dalgliesh) to figure out if there was really a mystery worth worrying about. Evil doings pick up in the second half and the ending is terrific.

James does a great job at recreating a reclusive, almost cultish society prone to curious habits and an unhealthy proximity. I particularly enjoyed the mix of generations in this one, where old and young live with different world views. This is the second I read where Dalgliesh is an observer of

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the case, although he actively contributes to its resolution. As always, James's style is impeccable: with few words, she recreates a dark and foreboding atmosphere which keeps the reader on her edge of her seat!

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I decided to read all of the Adam Daigliesh mysteries in one fell swoop and am glad I did. First, they are classic British mysteries all well-deserving of the respect P.D. James has earned for them and all are a good read. However, what is interesting is to watch the author develop her style from

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the early ones to the later ones. And, in fact, A Shroud for a Nightingale and The Black Tower (the fourth and fifth in the series) is where she crosses the divide. The later books have much more character development -- both for the players and the detectives -- make Dalgleish more rounded and are generally much more than a good mystery yarn -- they're fine novels that happen to be mysteries. The first three books (Cover Her Face, A Mind to Murder, Unnatural Causes) are just that much more simplistic. But read any or all -- she's a great writer and they are definitely worth the time.

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Gripping, a bit grey

Dalgleish finds out that what's wrong with him is a bad bout of mononucleosis, it's nothing fatal and he should take some time to rest. At the same time he receives an invite from an elderly friend to visit him as he wants to pick his brains about something. Dalgleish is shocked when he arrives

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that his friend is dead. His friend is living in a group of cottages associated with a house that is now a home for people with degenerative illnesses. Shortly before Dalgleish's friend, Father Baddeley, died, another person in the house also died and as further residents start to have accidents, Dalgleish starts to ask questions and resolves his questions about his career.

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Not my favourite PD James.
I thought the book was rather slow and a bit hard to get through in the beginning. It's really not much of a detective at first; Dalgliesh has just recovered from an illness and doesn't want to get involved in the affairs of Toynton Grange, and he actually succeeds quite

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well in staying on the side-line. It's therefore not much of a 'regular' detective novel, because though you do get to know more and more about the inhabitants of Toynton Grange and their lives strictly speaking there's no real detective work going on.
From about halfway onward I did find it to become much more exciting, and I did really get drawn into it. I really liked the ending, I hadn't seen it coming and I really liked the way all the lose ends got tied up neatly.

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One of the earlier Dalgliesh mysteries, but after reading the most recent (and possibly final) story, I appreciate it more. All the characters have some depth to them (okay, not quite all -- the handy-man, the female wheelchair patients, and the nurses are not too deep, but they have enough

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personality or personal history to give them enough character to fulfill their role in the story). The scenes are all, for the most part, relevant to the plot. That was a complaint of the final mystery -- too many tangents, particularly with the Commander's team.

Several deaths at special home for people with MS type disorders, all seemingly accidental or natural and unrelated actually are all by the hand of the most normal person in the group, who was trying to cover up his heroin smuggling operation. How Dalgliesh knew it was certainly heroin as opposed to some other drug, I'm not sure, but whatever. A good classic who-dunit type mystery with a bit of the PDJames theological hints to boot.

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Took a while to get going. With so many characters in similar situations it was hard keeping track of who was who. May go back and read more of the Dalgleish series.

After his release from the hospital, Dalgliesh travels to a country facility for invalids to visit an old family friend, the on-staff priest. He arrives too late, as Father Baddeley died recently and has already been buried, leaving Dalgliesh his books in his will. But the priest isn't the only

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recent death, as a wheelchair-bound patient threw himself off a cliff just days before Dalgliesh's arrival. The two deaths prompt the Commander, who has decided to quit the police, to keep asking questions even though he hates what he's doing.
I believe this is the sixth of the series about the reluctant, poetry writing detective. It's almost a And Then There Were None plot, with a home out on the edge of the sea, and a small cast of characters in constant contact because of the near-isolation, but unable to leave, and nearly all the staff members with a motive.

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While not as good as her Innocent Blood (1980) or the fantastic Children of Men (2006), The Black Tower is a page-turner with complex, fascinating characters. A slew of murders, all of which appear to be natural deaths, almost defeat the recuperating Adam Dalgliesh, who has determined to give up

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criminal justice following a life-threatening illness. The parallels between Dalgliesh's recovery and the lives of the patients at the nursing home that the detective is visiting in response to a request from an old friend put The Black Tower beyond the typical whodonit. The wrap-up at the end is a little quick, however, with too much explanation from both Dalgliesh and the murdered.

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I got a little tired of the anthropomorphic objects. The interior musing of Adam Dalgliesh I didn't mind so much, but when the narration got a little too florid it took me out of the story. E.g: 'yellow dandelions, pinpoints of brightness on the faded autumnal grass' which concludes a lengthy intro

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of a landscape at the beginning of a chapter.
Some nice passage, p. 18 and p. 271 favorites, and a well done way of having the detective discover the truth before the reader, even though it's form his perspective. Did not guess this one!

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Politically incorrect mystery set in a convalescent home. James actually dares to make her disabled characters unlikable! A Dalgleish mystery and a decent read.

A conventional but well written who-dunnit.
Read Samoa Dec 2003

I tried but I couldn't get into this book. I kept plugging along with it (I hate hot reading a book all the way through) and have to admit I skipped many chapters but it just did not keep me interested. When I got to the ending..... Yeah..... Still couldn't get into it...

It was a pleasant hearing, although I would not classify this Dalgliesh book as excellent. Dalgliesh is in a recovery phase and visits an old friend at his request. Unfortunately, he is late because his friend died a few days ago. It is striking that Dalgliesh is always a tad too late in this book.

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He realizes that there is something bad at work, but there are dead before he finds out anything.

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I abandoned this one. It seemed repetitive, mean-spirited, and formulaic. All the inmates at the asylum were without any redeeming characteristics.

She rarely puts a foot wrong. Another artful exercise in mystery-making. I like that everyone seems intelligent, for the most part (not geniuses, necessarily, but thinking, as opposed to the foolish automatons that people other authors' books).

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good

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book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!

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Newly promoted to Commander, Adam Dalgliesh is recuperating from an illness and seriously thinking of retiring from the police service. Having received a letter from an acquaintance whom he has not seen for many years asking for his assistance, he sets out to visit him in a home for people who can

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no longer live by themselves. When he gets there, he finds Father Baddeley has died and been buried only days before.

Father Baddeley had left him a small bequeath of books which will take time to sort and box so he plans to stay for a week. As much as he tries, Dalgliesh cannot escape his policeman sense that things are not as they seem at Toynton Grange and when there are more unexplained deaths, he begins to look for clues.

Slow to start but eventually the reader will be riveted to the story line.

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A pretty good mystery that keeps one guessing until the end.

Adam Dalgleish is at the end of a serious stay in hospital. At points it was thought he might die from his illness. That prognosis was wrong and he is now to go home and take it easy for a week or two.

During his stay he did a lot of thinking about his job and the idea of quitting. Did he really

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want to continue on with police work? Was there something other he’d rather do? This personal thought pattern runs in the background.

Meanwhile, he has received an invitation to visit. The writer was Father Baddeley, a man from Dalgliesh’s childhood. The man is probably in his 80s and has a problem he feels Dalgleish is qualified to help solve. But by the time Dalgleish is able to get there the man is dead and buried.

Dalgleish finds he is named in Baddeley’s will as being given the job of sorting Baddeley’s library and keeping what he wants. This turns out to be a good reason for Dalgleish to stay around and do a little investigating. The story of the Father’s death seems a bit shady.

While there are three more unexpected deaths, Dalgleish thinks there is a common killer involved. Who and why?

There is an assortment of characters and the location is a private hospital, Toynton Grange, originally a family estate. It caters to a select group of disabled. There are only five patients, each has an unusual backstory and not all are pleased with their situation.

Dalgleish finds that the years he’s done police work cause him to automatically investigate when things don’t seem right. Should he retire? What would he do with his time?

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Dalgliesh is recovering from an extended illness, he decides to visit an old friend while he recuperates and reevaluates his life. This is not an action-packed story, although the end is pretty tense. I enjoyed the slow pacing. James has a way of description which not only tells you about the

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place, but sets the tone of the story as well.

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