Devices and Desires (1989)

Not one of her best, but intriguing considering the fact that the back story is about a nuclear power plant and they are much in the news these days. ( )

Devices and Desires is a P. D. James Adam Dalgliesh novel from the late 80s, with the usual timelessly genteel and grammatical cast of suspects. The Whistler is a serial killer plying his trade on a Norfolk peninsula dominated by an enormous nuclear power station. The remote setting and the lovingly crafted characters make this a memorable book, but I felt it was over-long and that Dalgliesh himself was essentially superfluous. Four stars.

Read my full review at http://pastoffences.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/p-d-james-devices-and-desires/ ( )

Devices and Desires is a P. D. James Adam Dalgliesh novel from the late 80s, with the usual timelessly genteel and grammatical cast of suspects. The Whistler is a serial killer plying his trade on a Norfolk peninsula dominated by an enormous nuclear power station. The remote setting and the lovingly crafted characters make this a memorable book, but I felt it was over-long and that Dalgliesh himself was essentially superfluous. Four stars.

Read my full review at http://pastoffences.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/p-d-james-devices-and-desires/ ( )

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 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. ( )

I hadn't read an Adam Dalgliesh novel in ten years when I started this. I feared I would find it more sobering than entertaining and I was right. P. D. James writes mysteries that have all the qualities of a serious realist novel: grim detail, much of it psychological, little humor, no conscious parody or camp. She is a very facile writer: characters, places, situations, motivations are described in detail in the classic realist manner. She is adequate at mystery and better at suspense. She has here two horrific scenes of violence that are hard to forget. She has one fault I can't stand. Everybody in the book talks like an Eton graduate. When a frigging tramp started talking like everyone, I nearly threw the book against the wall. ( )

I find P.D.James to be a strange writer. In some ways, she is excellent – she has a good grasp of what makes a certain class of person tick, and the relationships that exist in British society. I was re-reading this – though I find Adam Dalgliesh to be a rather irritating protagonist, for reasons I am not wholly sure of, the sweep of the stories carries me along, and the East Anglian settings always appeal. But at the same time that the stories are good, they often involve a heavy dash of willing suspension of belief, and though life is sometimes stranger than fiction, the coincidences sometimes come too fast and furious for realistic comfort.

One thing I noticed is that P.D.James and I write in rather similar ways – not that I put myself in the same league as her, but the faults I notice in her writing are ones I notice in my own. Her characters talk in whole perfectly rounded sentences, somewhat unnaturally, but expressing their thoughts clearly through their words – so do mine. Her characters also talk to themselves (without punctuation) – and so do mine. As I say, her plots are more coherent and better than mine, but there are similarities in the way we treat characters. I am not sure why Dalgliesh irritates me - maybe for the same reasons that he irritates himself.

Anyway, Devices and Desires is one of the more enjoyable escapist ways of passing an evening ( )

Classic Brit mystery -- a limited number of people in a confined place, every one of them with a motive. This isn't my favorite of hers, but it's still first rate. ( )

Another great Adam Dalgliesh mystery, this one involving a nuclear power station and a serial killer. ( )

I like Dalgleish crime books and this one was as good as any. ( )

Not sure if I actually read the same book as all the other reviewers. Certainly the focus is more on characterization and less on gently doling out clues so the reader can solve the mystery, but that is a positive of the book. Has the irritating, showy quality of the detective finding the body himself - I always hate those sorts of coincidences, but I suppose it was the easiest way to get Dalgliesh involved in a case where he was so far out of his jurisdiction.

The characters are drawn lushly, not only as characters but as people with good motives for murder. One character does combine cunning and strength of character with an almost ludicrous naivete. When I found out the identity of the murderer, I didn't find it to be particularly surprising or predictable, but I thought the way the murderer was revealed to the reader was superbly written, and the murderer's fate was perfectly in character, neatly foreshadowed, and had nice historical touches.

I haven't read all that many of P.D. James's books, but this one might have been my favorite so far. ( )

It begins with a serial killer stalking lone women up and down the coast of Norfolk, England. Commander Adam Dalgliesh is trying to take a holiday in nearby, sleepy Larksoken where his aunt has willed him a quaint windmill/cottage. His vacation is cut short when the killer takes one of Larsoken's own. Adding to the drama is a highly controversial atomic power station, a lover's tryst and blackmail. Dalgliesh does his best to assist the local authorities but there is controversy even there as he has a not so pleasant history with Rickards, the lead on the case.
As with all small towns the entire community is well embroiled in each other's lives. They seem to know everything about one another yet no one suspects the real killer. ( )

Good topics but dull. The detective doesn't do anything and doesn't tell the reader anything. Stuff happends. ( )

Listened to as an audiobook. Odd visual image flashbacks as I listened, so I must have seen this on PBS as well. Enjoyed James, as I always do. This one has an interesting twist because Adam D isn't the detective. He has to remain to quite an extent on the periphery. I was struck this time about how much James lets you into the conciouscness of all the characters and still keeps her secret about who done it. And I never really try to guess. I like the pleasure of not knowing in a mystery.

Devices and Desires involves an off-duty trip to the East Anglian countryside for Adam Dalgliesh, the Scotland Yard Commander who is known for his intelligence, photographic memory, and perceptiveness. A local serial killer case is not his responsibility, nor are the seemingly implicated politics of the local nuclear power plant, but Dalgliesh nevertheless becomes involved. This satisfying James effort includes the usual complement of elevated language and memorable phrases. One favorite: the local inspector, thinking about the forensic pathologist, observes, "Reading M.B.'s lucid and comprehensive autopsy reports, he could forgive him even his aftershave." The heart of this crime - and indeed - any crime, is captured by a witness who, struggling to understand evil, asks a priest, "Can we ever break free of the devices and desires of our own hearts?" (The priest, meanwhile, wants to return to his mystery book, because the detective therein "despite his uncertainties, would get there in the end, because this was fiction: problems would be solved, evil overcome, justice vindicated and death itself only a mystery which would be solved in the final chapter.") This is typical James: the "meta" commentary - tongue-in-cheek one presumes - on her own situation. "The dead," says one of James' characters, "have passed beyond the power of words." Luckily, we - her readers - have not.

(JAF)

Crime novels not usually my cup of tea. Either because they work best on TV such as Miss Marples et al or Inspector Morse or because you know by the plot by the 2nd page. She like a handful of others such as the very different Elmore John Leonard create via their writing a world in which the moral actions of their characters make sense ( )

This was a good mystery, but it just doesn't hang together as well as the other James mysteries I've read recently. My main problem was a red herring that appeared rather late in the book with very little warning, which struck me as being somewhat unbelievable and needlessly dramatic. Overall the novel felt overly long and overly confusing, without the same kind of tight plotting that I've come to expect from James. ( )