Slow and protracted complex whodunnit.

Written in '94 and set about then, Peverell Press is one of the last and largest independant publishing houses in England. Control has recently passed into the hands of one Gerald Ettinne. Ambitious and motivated to make his fortune several startling changes are planned to keep the company modern. Chief inspector Dalgliesh and his team decline to investigate a suicide on the premises, but when the body count mounts they are called in. All the partners are suspects as well as many of the other workers, but they all have alibis - some of which over many pages the team manage to cast doubt on. The case progresses in a slow and workmanlike manner as various red herrings are explored unitl the sudden and unexpected conclusion.

At times it's painfully slow. James has never managed to allieviate the tendancy of describing each new character in paragraghs of turgid (and skipable) detail. The upside of this technique is that eventually you do get to care about the characters a bit, particularly the interactions between the various memebers of Dalgliesh's squad. Which are well crafted. This is the 9th of the series which I've not read as a complete series but presumably there is quite a bit of backstory which is continued here.

There isn't really any suspense built up - other than knowing the book's about to finish and there still aren't any obvious clues - but the ending is sufficiently unobvious (although with insight there are a very few clues) to come as a surprise to most readers. Fortunetly it doesn't come about through one of Dalgliesh's hunches although these do occur sufficiently to annoy, and there is the tedious requirement of a grand denoucement by the purpitraitor which again seems very contrived.

The atmosphere is very good throughout - the wearied police facing yet another bunch of probably lying and coniving witnesess and suspects. The gossiping tealadies and secretaries eager for the latest rumours and scared of all the attention. The dramatic background of the Thames and the detail of Innocent house, but overall a faster pace would be more engaging to the reader.

Worthwhile - especially for long journies when you've nothing better to do. ( )

Classic Dalgliesh novel. Perspective dancing from one character to the next, so that even the misfits and marginalized in the story are understandable and human. I like the setting of Innocent House and the presence of the Thames. Some rich conflicts and plot payoffs. ( )

I'm not a big genre-reader, though I'm getting progressively more interested in sci-fi/fantasy. However, I still have a hard time with mysteries. I liked "Original Sin" more than the Agatha Christies I've read. Strangely, mystery-lovers I know don't like James as much, saying she uses too much detail, too much character development and less action. I guess that's why I like her. I will definitely read more of her stuff. ( )

I really couldn't get into this one for some odd reason. Maybe it was because it took longer than usual to get to the muder :-). But still, a P.D. James that is a little under-par is still better than 99% of the other stuff that passes for mysteries out there! ( )

I haven't read a PD James mystery I didn't like, this is no exception. ( )