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oanh_1's review against another edition
4.0
I should stop reading the likes of Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwall and just read PD James' back catalogue. This was wonderfully written. There were rather a lot of food descriptions, which kept making me hungry while I was reading, irrespective of when it was that I had eaten. And the cups of coffee and tea drunk. Read it at home, near your kitchen, if you're as suggestible as I seem to be.
luluwoohoo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Death In Holy Orders by P.D. James
☀️☀️☀️🌥️
▪️A solid follow up to "A Certain Justice" but lacking the satisfaction of it, despite being a more traditional story
▪️This is yet another example of me failing to predict the criminal, however this is in part because the guilty person was incriminated relatively early on and it left the slow but inevitable reveal feeling a bit lacking to the point where I expected another twist. The logic of why they killed wasn't entirely enough for me either
▪️Dalgliesh himself was given a much more interesting arc in this story, jumping off from the apparent failures of the last book and pointing him in a more positive direction for the next one. Despite enjoying the growth, I'm interested to see if it feels natural moving forward or if it rather feels like shoehorning progression where there needn't necessarily be any
▪️The setting of this story - another remote, coastal building - was well constructed and at least differentiated from earlier pieces with the religious aspect, though that too has already featured heavily in the series previously
▪️ Overall I liked the themes and the pacing of this Dalgliesh book well enough but it failed to usurp the previous book in my eyes due to the early reveal and the wrongfully casual portrayal of child sexual abuse within the church.
"There came to him a conviction that was as powerful as it was apparently irrational: that the three deaths were connected. The apparent suicide, the certified natural death, the brutal murder - there was a cord which connected them. It's strength might be tenuous and it's path convoluted, but when he had traced it, it would lead him to the heart of the mystery."
☀️☀️☀️🌥️
▪️A solid follow up to "A Certain Justice" but lacking the satisfaction of it, despite being a more traditional story
▪️This is yet another example of me failing to predict the criminal, however this is in part because the guilty person was incriminated relatively early on and it left the slow but inevitable reveal feeling a bit lacking to the point where I expected another twist. The logic of why they killed wasn't entirely enough for me either
▪️Dalgliesh himself was given a much more interesting arc in this story, jumping off from the apparent failures of the last book and pointing him in a more positive direction for the next one. Despite enjoying the growth, I'm interested to see if it feels natural moving forward or if it rather feels like shoehorning progression where there needn't necessarily be any
▪️The setting of this story - another remote, coastal building - was well constructed and at least differentiated from earlier pieces with the religious aspect, though that too has already featured heavily in the series previously
▪️ Overall I liked the themes and the pacing of this Dalgliesh book well enough but it failed to usurp the previous book in my eyes due to the early reveal and the wrongfully casual portrayal of child sexual abuse within the church.
"There came to him a conviction that was as powerful as it was apparently irrational: that the three deaths were connected. The apparent suicide, the certified natural death, the brutal murder - there was a cord which connected them. It's strength might be tenuous and it's path convoluted, but when he had traced it, it would lead him to the heart of the mystery."
valariesmith's review against another edition
3.0
Much of what I love about the Dalgleish series was present in Death in Holy Orders - the leisurely, descriptive writing; the strong sense of atmosphere; the brooding Dalgleish himself. Bizarrely, though, we were clearly supposed to accept that a priest groping children wasn't a serious crime, and the one character who did believe it was a serious issue was treated like someone who was unreasonable, vengeful, disloyal and hysterical. As a reader, it made me feel uneasy and distrustful of PD James and complicit in the world she'd created. While the rest of the book was as compelling and absorbing as every other book in the Dalgleish series, this attitude towards sexual abuse made Death in Holy Orders ultimately distasteful.
nocto's review against another edition
3.0
I get annoyed with PD James because of the feeling that surrounds her that says that she's head and shoulders better than every other crime writer around. That and the fact that she only writes about terribly posh people as if that's all there is in the world. This is a version of the very traditional English detective story - deaths in a small community where only an insider can be guilty. The story is nothing terribly inventive and there are a hundred crime writers out there writing tales set around much better plots.
The characters here are pretty well drawn though; I find them all slightly unbelievable just because of who they are but they do appear real all the same. There's a sense that James is taking the mickey out of herself when someone comments that not all of the twenty students at the theological college the book is set at have had priviledged upbringings - one of them actually came through the state school system.
I haven't read any James for quite a while, apart from rereading the two Cordelia Grey books on audio last year, I read most of them as a teenager and I'm not sure I'd be able to put up with the characters for long enough to read them all again now. I always find Inspector Kate Miskin to be a shadow of what she could be. Her background is one of poverty and working her way up the ranks of the Met and it never rings true. Kate sometimes feels out of place in the circles Dalgleish moves in, both social and literary, but I always feel she's just been put in for show. Perhaps it's just that at the end of the day she is the sidekick and Dalgleish is the main attraction but I do wish James had made her more than she has.
This isn't a bad book just not a terribly exciting, interesting or innovative one.
The characters here are pretty well drawn though; I find them all slightly unbelievable just because of who they are but they do appear real all the same. There's a sense that James is taking the mickey out of herself when someone comments that not all of the twenty students at the theological college the book is set at have had priviledged upbringings - one of them actually came through the state school system.
I haven't read any James for quite a while, apart from rereading the two Cordelia Grey books on audio last year, I read most of them as a teenager and I'm not sure I'd be able to put up with the characters for long enough to read them all again now. I always find Inspector Kate Miskin to be a shadow of what she could be. Her background is one of poverty and working her way up the ranks of the Met and it never rings true. Kate sometimes feels out of place in the circles Dalgleish moves in, both social and literary, but I always feel she's just been put in for show. Perhaps it's just that at the end of the day she is the sidekick and Dalgleish is the main attraction but I do wish James had made her more than she has.
This isn't a bad book just not a terribly exciting, interesting or innovative one.
simplymeg's review against another edition
4.0
At some point in a prior millennium I read a lot of P.D. James, and this book brought back all the reasons I enjoyed her writing so much. She so beautifully elaborates tortured characters and tortured landscapes. The story and the setting and the atmosphere are all terribly British (which I love, obviously). And the mystery is actually mysterious.
flowergirl's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoy P. D. James mysteries, but this was not her best.
ambergold's review against another edition
4.0
Very good. Complex and satisfying, and more direct in its exploration of human drive, faith, disbelief, and literature than James' other novels. The thread of haunting bittersweetness that runs through all of her works is still present however.
sireno8's review against another edition
3.0
PD James is always so good. Her books are so rich in character and mood that the crime is almost secondary. This one is not exception. Great stuff. Wish it had been a teeny bit pacier. The last 150 pages motored by but the middle 100 was a bit of an uphill battle. Also, wish there'd been a bit more of a twist at the end but these are minor. Good stuff as always.
crowyhead's review against another edition
4.0
Another excellent James mystery. I loved the setting for this one -- an Anglican seminary on the English coast. Dalgliesh returns to St. Anselm's, where he spent several happy summers as a boy, to investigate the death of a seminary student. The student was killed in the collapse of a sandy cliff, but it is not clear whether his death was accidental, suicide, or even murder. There's loads of intrigue, as three subsequent deaths expose the priests and students to scrutiny and their lives are laid bare.