The Skull Beneath the Skin

P.D. James has probably added more to the British coastline over the course of her long career in crime than even the Environment Agency has been able to remove. In this early-1980s story, still firmly in the typewriter era, we gain an additional small island off the coast of Dorset. Complete with a castle full of choice Victoriana and a butler: what better setting could there be for a good old-fashioned English murder? And what's more, the investigation is in the hands of Cordelia Gray, so we don't have that tedious Mr Dalgliesh to depress us all. Cordelia can be a bit of a Harriet at times, but she's a lot livelier than the Commander, and unlike the real Harriet, she is actually allowed to solve the occasional crime without male show more assistance. show less

Swift-paced and gripping, as detective novels should be, this mystery is part Agatha Christie's Poirot and part modern crime novel in spirit and approach. An actress is murdered in a Victorian castle on a private island, before a comeback performance of 'The Duchess of Malfi', and amateur private detective Cordelia Gray must identify which of her fellow guests is the killer.

The murder is sufficiently brutal (although I was surprised that a reference wasn't made to the play, given that quotations abound and the victim is found with her eyes covered), the clues tempting, and motives abound - yet the solution is rather disappointing. Perhaps the grubby explanation could never match up to the gothic setting and the creative evidence show more (quotations about death from plays by Shakespeare), but the ending felt pared down - the supporting cast leave the stage one by one, narrowing down the suspects, and after chasing the most tantalising clue from pillar to post, Cordelia is met with a clinical confession from the murderer. The clues point in the right direction, but the culprit is almost unworthy of the attention. And one small point - wouldn't it have been easy enough to get a reprint of the damning newspaper article from the British Library?

Cordelia, despite her amateur status, is classically educated and almost arrogantly middle class, reminding me of Inspector Morse (whom I didn't like in book form, either). She, and the other guests at the castle, all recognise obscure quotes and can dredge up translations of Latin from schooldays - informative for the reader, particularly with regard to extending vocabulary ('preprandial' and 'rebarbative' are two of my favourites), but didn't endear me to the colourful but unreal characters. Everybody's reaction to finding the battered corpse of the actress is very stiff and repressed, until Cordelia analyses herself into a fit of silent tears. Being told how intelligent and talented a detective Cordelia is by the 'real' police didn't boost her charm, either.

James' writing is skilfull and almost lyrical in places, but this Cordelia Gray mystery was a hit and miss experience for me. A thoughtful, very atmospheric tale with a weak ending. show less

Cordelia Gray Bumbles through in Second Outing
Review of the Sphere Books paperback edition (1983/1986 reprint) of the Faber & Faber hardcover original (1982)

She guarded her privacy. None of her friends and no one from the Agency had ever been in the flat. Adventures occurred elsewhere. She knew that if any man shared that narrow bed for her it would mean commitment. There was only one man she ever pictured there and he was a Commander of New Scotland Yard. She knew that he, too, lived in the City, they shared the same river. But she told herself that the brief madness was over, that at a time of stress and frightening insecurity she had only been seeking her lost father-figure. There was this to be said for a smattering of amateur

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psychology: it enabled one to exorcise memories which might otherwise be embarrassing.

It was not a good sign when the nameless cameo of P.D. James' regular detective character Commander Adam Dalgliesh of New Scotland Yard CID was one of the most intriguing aspects of the second outing of her private detective character Cordelia Gray. Following a 10-year hiatus after 1972's An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, Cordelia Gray returns in a case which promises gothic intrigue and dramatic revenge but which falls flat and leaves one forced to tag it with an Unsatisfactory Ending Alert ™.

The Pryde Detective Agency is moderately successful and Gray has even hired two office assistants to help with paperwork and research. The caseload is dominated however by the search for lost pets. A more serious case appears when Cordelia is hired by Sir George Ralston to be a bodyguard-companion to his wife, the actress Clarissa Lisle, on a weekend outing to Courcy Island. The actress has been the nervous subject of a disturbing poison pen letter campaign and her career has suffered as a consequence. She hopes that a staging of John Webster's Jacobean-era revenge tragedy The Duchess of Malfi (1614) with an amateur theatrical company at Courcy Island's restored Victorian era theatre will be the start of a late career revival.

See cover image at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/TheSkullBeneathTheSkin.jpg
Front cover of the original Faber & Faber hardcover edition (1982). Image sourced from Wikipedia.

Although the gothic atmosphere of Courcy Island and its rather foreboding history of deaths from the bubonic plague through to World War II prisoner of war internments is well described, the supposed investigation is rather weak. Gray does just about nothing for 80% of the book which of course results in fatal consequences for her client. She is then finally fired up to chase down what at first appears to be an insignificant press cutting reviewing an earlier Clarissa Lisle performance. The press cutting proves to be the key to the solution of the case, but instead of alerting the authorities, Gray proceeds to bumble through and almost gets herself killed. In the denouement we learn that justice will probably not even prevail. In the end, Cordelia returns to the cat and dog investigations.

There were no further Cordelia Gray private detective books to be had from P.D. James.

Trivia and No Link
The Skull Beneath the Skin has had no TV or theatrical film adaptations made to date as of this writing mid-August 2022. show less

A classic closed room whodunit, ‘The Skull Beneath the Skin’ is the second of only two Cordelia Gray private detective mysteries by PD James. I wonder why she didn’t write more?
Gray’s fledgling detective agency is relying on finding missing cats when Sir George Ralston arrives unannounced to request Gray ensure the safety of his actress wife, Clarissa Lisle, at her next performance. Lisle has been receiving threatening letters and worries about freezing on stage. Sir George seems unconvinced of Clarissa’s danger. ‘The job I’m offering is a mixture of functions. You’d be part bodyguard, part private secretary, part investigator and part – well, nursemaid.’ Which sounds unpromising but the job pays well. So Cordelia show more leaves for Courcy Island, location of an amateur private performance of ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ in which Lisle will play the starring role. As with all James’ novels, there is a delicious laying of pragmatic fact about those in attendance mixed with literary references and poetry.
Of course, Clarissa Lisle is murdered. The police arrive and Cordelia finds herself one of the suspects. There is the usual ragbag of potential murderers. The cuckolded husband; the dying former lover; the pampered stepson; the unsuccessful sister; the silent and sullen dresser; the efficient butler and his wife; the boatman and handyman; and the host of the event, arts patron and novelist Ambrose Gorringe. The setting is beautiful with hidden horror. Courcy Island, set off the Dorset coast, was the scene of nastiness and death during World War Two. Gorringe takes great delight in showing his newly-arrived guests around the island and displaying its dark past.
James writes such dense yet enlightening paragraphs that kindle curiosity. For example, at the end of chapter four, ‘He was discovering that even hatred died a little at the end. But it still lasted longer than desire, longer even than love. Walking slowly in the sunshine and thinking of the weekend ahead, he smiled at the realization that what was most alive in him now was the capacity for mischief.’ James, as always early in her novels, sets the scene with much hinting, veiling of the truth and making her own mischief.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/ show less

Cordelia Gray is hired to accompany an actress who is receiving death threats to an island. The actress, Clarissa (confusing at first to have a Cordelia and Clarissa in every other paragraph), is hoping that her performance on the island will revitalize her fading career. Fading because the death threats are unnerving her. The threats are quotes from various plays she has appeared in. Cordelia is told that her job will mainly consist of preventing any more threats from reaching their target, but that it is not supposed there is any real danger to the actresses life. Clarissa is not an easy client, nor an attractive personality.

I liked Cordelia. Although she was given to flights of fancy, she still managed to see the main points in the show more case and do a commendable job. There were a couple of actions taken which I thought were stretching credibility too much. While this was a good mystery to read, I'm not quite sure the author played fair with the reader on the clues. Also, I was quite disappointed in the ending, but then I am one who likes my mysteries tidy and neatly finished with justice for all. I know that is not the modern thing.

All the same, I am sorry to learn that there is only one other Cordelia Gray novel. The characters in it are well drawn and have promise. show less

It takes until page 186 for the major crime to be committed; it's a long book. I did not guess who done what (of course), but I did guess that different people may have done different things. A terrible woman who has been getting death threats hires Cordelia Gray to protect her. The interesting mystery to me is why so many people are attracted to her and stay with her after she betrays them in so many ways.

Perhaps the most mannered of all of P D James's novels, The Skull Beneath the Skin is a classic English murder mystery. A party of fascinating characters has traveled to Courcy Island, the private domain of an eccentric crime writer and Victoriana buff, for an amateur theatrical performance. But the star of the show's no amateur; Clarissa Lisle is a fading but still talented and sexy professional actress who's trying to revive her flagging career. Here's a hint: it doesn't go well.

The Skull Beneath the Skin is the second, and unfortunately final, Cordelia Gray novel. She's a pert and intelligent sleuth; highly attractive to both the book's other characters, and to us readers. It's a pity James abandoned her as a protagonist after just show more the two books.

All of James's other strengths are in full flower here: deep characterizations and motivations, elegant descriptions of setting, and the uncanny ability to make a reader take seriously a work in a genre that's been plundered by lesser writers for so many decades.

Highly recommended. show less