Death in Holy Orders (Mass Market Paperback)

As usual, P D James¡ novel is a pleasure to read. Very rarely do detective stories provide the thrill to keep the reader¡s heart pumping, the mystery to keep his curiosity alive till the last page, but also wonderful insights into each characters. In simple words, her novels are never shallow. Enjoyment from her novel is never derived from skimping through the pages, but from drinking in each sentence slowly. And it never hurts that Adam Dalgliesh has remained such a charismatic character all along.

It was only relatively late in the story that I figured out who the murderer would be, which is a sign that the writer has not made things so obvious that the book is not worth reading (although it could just have been my unfamiliarity with this genre). At the same time, once the murderer was revealed there were clues that one could look back on, so it didn't feel that James has just picked an unlikely candidate in order to keep it a mystery. This was a fun read but not, ultimately, one that would make me want to read many similar books. For it's explorations of character and the exploration of an unusual setting I would recommend it as something worth reading.

I found the mystery itself quite compelling. The plot proved complex enough without resorting to sometimes laughable complexities for novelty's sake. This was my first Dalgliesh novel, but I found the character decently enough described so as to be able to enjoy reading about him.

The ecclesiastical aspects of the story proved very interesting. James uses the high church-low church matrix to place her characters and their religious politics in finly drawn relation to each other, Church history, and contemporary events.

And though I don't expect to find many others like me in this regard; I enjoyed reading about religion and religious people in a non-religious context. Ecclesiology can be fun (really!) but ecclesiastical murder is more fun!

Since reading "A Death in Holy Orders" I am now reading my way -- backwards -- through the entire Adam Dalgleish series. And I'm enjoying it immensely.

And James has got me back on to Trollope. In a passage in "Holy Orders" a chapter of "Barchester Towers" is read aloud -- to great effect. As I read my way backwards through Dalgleish, I'm reading my way (forwards) through Trollope's excellent "Chronicle of Barsetshire" novels, beginning with "The Warden." Thanks Baroness James for returning me to those excellent, less gorey, but much funnier Victorian novels about life in and around the Church of England.