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The Murder Room. (Hardcover)

by P. D James (Author)

4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: A.A. Knopf (Jan 1 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1400041414
ISBN-13: 978-1400041411
Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.7 x 4.1 cm
Shipping Weight: 749 g

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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This is item 12 in The Adam Dalgliesh (Books) Series.

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Neither the mystery nor the detective present James's followers with anything truly new in her latest Adam Dalgliesh novel (after 2001's Death in Holy Orders), which opens, like other recent books in the series, with an extended portrayal of an aging institution whose survival is threatened by one person, who rapidly becomes the focus of resentment and hostility. Neville Dupayne, a trustee of the Dupayne Museum, a small, private institution devoted to England between the world wars, plans to veto its continuing operation. After many pages of background on the museum's employees, volunteers and others who would be affected by the trustee's unpopular decision, Neville meets his end in a manner paralleling a notorious historical murder exhibited in the museum's "Murder Room." MI5's interest in one of the people connected with the crime leads to Commander Dalgleish and his team taking on the case. While a romance develops between the commander, who's even more understated than usual, and Emma Lavenham, introduced in Death in Holy Orders, this subplot has minimal impact. A second murder raises the ante, but the whodunit aspect falls short of James's best work. Hopefully, this is an isolated lapse for an author who excels at characterization and basic human psychology.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

After 16 novels, James is still able to find insular communities of professionals in which to set her crimes. This time it's the staff of a quirky museum devoted to England between the wars. The piece de resistance of the museum's collection is the Murder Room, in which are gathered artifacts from famous homicides that took place during the interwar years. Naturally, the room plays a crucial role, both as setting and as backstory, when real-life murder comes to the museum. It starts not in the Murder Room but in a garage, where one member of the family-owned museum is incinerated after being doused with petrol. That the victim was lobbying to sell the museum, over the objections of his sister and brother, only adds fuel to a fire that Scotland Yard Commander Adam Dalgleish is asked to extinguish. As always, James delves deeply into the psyches of her characters--in this case, the museum's staff--uncovering not just motives and secrets, the stuff of any crime plot, but also the flesh and bone of personality. Her novels follow a formula in terms of the action and the setting, but her people rise above that pattern, their complexity giving muscle and sinew to the bare skeleton of the classical detective story. And none so much as Dalgleish himself, who now must contend with tremors of "precarious joy" as his feelings for Emma, a Cambridge professor he met in Holy Orders (2001), force a life-changing decision. James, at 83, has mastered the trick of repeating herself in ever-fascinating new ways. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bit long at first, Jul 9 2007

By	Toni Osborne "The Way I See It" (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Murder Room (Mass Market Paperback)

I must admit the first 200 pages were long and boring but as soon as the plot kicked in it was very hard for me to put the book down. The intrigue was captivating and at the end I can honestly say I enjoyed the novel.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A friendly recommendation, Aug 5 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Murder Room (Mass Market Paperback)

My best friend brought me this book to read while I was sick in bed. I thought, "Yeah, right. Like I'm going to read that!" But I started in and couldn't put it down! What a great story, with twists and turns and characters that you WANT to follow around. This book is great--please try it when you're well! would also recommend McCrae's THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD for something that will REALLY knock your socks off!

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic, Dec 16 2003

By	Valerie Adolph "Coast Journal" (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Murder Room (Hardcover)

This is another classic P. D. James mystery novel. At an age where many writers would be happy to lay down their pen (or switch off their computers) she still comes up with enthralling stories, vivid characters and plots full of surprises. Her acute observation of the human mind, foibles and reactions has sharpened with time.

The story is set in an eccentric little museum in London and the Murder Room houses exhibits relating to murders committed during the 1920's and 1930's. The focus is on a trunk that once contained the body of a murdered girl. The family who owns the museum is divided over whether to close it or continue to operate it, but some of the activities in the museum are more - shall we say "unusual" - than others and many people would be negatively affected if it closed.

Introducing characters in a mystery novel is difficult to do well, but James does it better than anyone. The reader is never left trying to remember if Neville was the doctor or the curator. She also introduces us to the peripheral characters who are affected by the crime, fleshing each one out rapidly, but leaving a clearer impression than most writers make with their main characters.

This is a mature writer, still at the peak of her power to draw readers into strong stories and to make them care about characters who may be a little off-beat, but never the usual caricatures of the English. There is a richness of texture in this book. The investigators, chiefly Adam Dalgleish and Kate Miskin have gained some maturity and a measure of understanding of themselves as well as their suspects.

I can recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a classic English mystery.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Mystery! She does it again!!!!
The Murder Room PD JAMES

P.D James has done it again. I think this is the 18th time she's done it. She is an extremely talented storyteller with prose like honey! Read more

Published on Sep 3 2003 by donaldedits

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Mystery! She does it again!!!!
The Murder Room PD JAMES

P.D James has done it again. I think this is the 18th time she's done it. She is an extremely talented storyteller with prose like honey! Read more

Published on Sep 3 2003 by donaldedits

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful book, satisfying at all levels.
P.D. James is by far the best mystery novelist around. Her writing, plot and character development are unsurpassable. This book is no different. Read more

Published on Aug 29 2003 by S. Schwartz