I rate PD James and yet I didn't enjoy this novel as much as others of hers that I've read: but it was her first effort and as such is pretty good. The set up is a bit Cluedo-ish: the Elizabethan manor house,with its mistress and her sickly husband, her adult children, a vicar, the murdered maid. But it's better than that suggests. Chief Inspector Dalgleish has a fine interviewing technique, but we don't get to know him at all outside the interview room. It's the other characters who get to move around to London, the village and beyond. But Dalgleish gets the murderer nailed in the end, and the full story is revealed in all its complexity in the last chapter of all. A good bedtime read. ( )

This murder mystery, P.D. James’s debut novel, was published in 1962, during the height of Agatha Christie’s fame and it has a somewhat similar feel in that it is set in an English country estate. I only started reading Christie last year, so I cannot avoid making a comparison, and this novel did not measure up. Its convoluted and far-fetched complexities were implausible to me. I did not hate it despite those infirmities, so I made allowance for the fact that this was James’s first novel. There were glimpses of a good writer. I may try another, but this one disappointed me. ( )

This was great comfort reading while I was sick, but I understand why it's James' least favorite novel. The ending is pretty unsatisfying. ( )

It was a little slow. I am not a huge fan of this style of mystery. More of a cozy hybrid mystery. Very slow pacing. Not sure if I will read the next one. ( )

Quick binge re-read of PD James' first published book. Interesting closed circle mystery set within the confines of a modest country house in the early 60s. There's a great deal of classism and snobbery amongst the main suspects, and James is always better at her rendering of the upper middle classes than the common people. Interesting to see the beginning of a change in attitude to "unmarried mothers" and rather shocking to discover that the "girl" in question is an adult of 22 (her apparent lack of agency suggested to me she was about 17). I enjoyed this book but there's always a curious feeling of distance in James's writing, a lack of warmth, or a clinical detachment which I find slightly uncomfortable. I'd not read this one for a long time and re-read after discovering its publication forced Agatha Christie to change the title of her last published Marple from "Cover her face" to "Sleeping Murder" - it fitted better with Christie's plot (though something of a spoiler). Also the cover of this edition (the bloodied telephone handset) has absolutely nothing to do with the plot. ( )