Well, if it's not playing mindless games on the computer or watching old movies and M*A*S*H reruns with Zach, I've been reading this summer. A lot, actually, even for me. Nice and quiet, after a long day at work! So, here is the first of several book reviews I'll be posting over the next couple weeks or so.
First up: Devices and Desires by P.D. James.
First up: Devices and Desires by P.D. James.
A quick plot summary: Cmdr Dalgliesh is a police inspector at the Met, but also a published poet. After the publication of his second volume of poems, he retreats to his late aunt's home to escape the publicity. Her home is a converted windmill at Larksoken, an isolated headland in Norfolk. The Whistler, a serial killer, has been working in Norfolk and is coming closer to the small community on the headland. Dalgliesh's retreat is interrupted when he discovers the body of apparently the Whistler's latest victim, the Acting Administrative Officer for the nuclear power station at Larksoken.
Totally random side note: I did wonder how the British characters in the book pronounce the county they live in (Norfolk). Growing up right outside the US city of Norfolk, it is a running joke in the area that "locals" and "non-locals" pronounce the city's name differently. And it's very true - it would drive me up the wall, listening to my branch manager at Horrible Job in SC talk about the Norfolk office of the company, because it was very much the non-local pronunciation he used. So, I did wonder occasionally how the British pronunciation compared to the local Hampton Roads, VA pronunciation :)
I love mysteries and I love British mysteries, and I'm just starting to get into the Dalgliesh series after discovering him in one of the collections of short stories I have on the shelf. I've read 3 of the novels now, and this one is strikingly different. It's almost not really a mystery at all. I mean, the murder is there, the mystery is there, but it's not really the focus of the novel. Dalgliesh is present and is a detective, but he's not an active detective as far as the story is concerned. He actually tries to stay out of the process, being on leave and all. There's not much detecting by the official police either, at least as far as the novel's viewpoint is concerned. The book is more about how the lives and plans of this small community of people intertwine and strike against each other in this chaotic situation, and with what outcomes. Seemingly innocent efforts from characters end up with disastrous results as actions are misinterpreted or magnified in the context of the murder investigations. Very ripples-on-a-pond sort of viewpoint.
This was a very interesting book to read. It was more of a personality study than a mystery, a look inside several people's minds as they are thrown into circumstances they didn't expect. As a result, the characters all seem very real and believable, not just stereotyped cast members. There is nothing 'neat' about this mystery - there are dozens of loose ends at the end of the case, and even if Dalgliesh is satisfied that he understands what happens, it doesn't mean that every thread is neatly tied up. And (without giving any of the plot away) so many of the loose ends simply result from human nature - an extra glass in a dish drainer in the sink, does it mean one person at dinner or two? The reader knows what happened, but the police do not and will never know.
The book looks a lot at family - parent-child, spouses, siblings - and the pulls of duty that family puts on a person. The only unattached person in the story was the 'main' murder victim. The other characters were all bound or driven or shaped by their family situations, whether it was a main character facet or not. Even Dalgliesh, a widower and a very private character, spent a good amount of time thinking of his late wife and infant son, because of his Norfolk counterpart Inspector Rickards' approaching new baby.
The 'main' murder victim was as unusual as the mystery. She was not one of those characters where there is a strong "evil" characterization, where you know immediately that she will be the one to die, and you won't feel any sympathy for her. She was intensely disliked (murder victims in mysteries have to be that way, otherwise you have a very short list of suspects) but as you saw in her mind, she felt she was justified in her actions. In a few cases, you could almost see her side of things. By the end of the book, I felt that she was one of those strong personalities that throws herself into whatever she does and earns respect, even if not liked.
The setting was almost a character, too. The isolation of the headland, the looming presence of the sea and of the nuclear power station forming the backdrop to the story. James spent as much time describing the setting as any one of the characters. Maybe that's why I enjoyed the book - the windy, cool, grey Norfolk seacoast is probably one of the farthest places from the glaringly bright, hot CA desert as I could imagine :)
Overall: 5 of 5. I really enjoyed it (it's rare that I immediately start rereading a book after finishing it) but take note that if you're looking for a more traditional mystery, this probably isn't the Dalgliesh mystery for you.
Totally random side note: I did wonder how the British characters in the book pronounce the county they live in (Norfolk). Growing up right outside the US city of Norfolk, it is a running joke in the area that "locals" and "non-locals" pronounce the city's name differently. And it's very true - it would drive me up the wall, listening to my branch manager at Horrible Job in SC talk about the Norfolk office of the company, because it was very much the non-local pronunciation he used. So, I did wonder occasionally how the British pronunciation compared to the local Hampton Roads, VA pronunciation :)
I love mysteries and I love British mysteries, and I'm just starting to get into the Dalgliesh series after discovering him in one of the collections of short stories I have on the shelf. I've read 3 of the novels now, and this one is strikingly different. It's almost not really a mystery at all. I mean, the murder is there, the mystery is there, but it's not really the focus of the novel. Dalgliesh is present and is a detective, but he's not an active detective as far as the story is concerned. He actually tries to stay out of the process, being on leave and all. There's not much detecting by the official police either, at least as far as the novel's viewpoint is concerned. The book is more about how the lives and plans of this small community of people intertwine and strike against each other in this chaotic situation, and with what outcomes. Seemingly innocent efforts from characters end up with disastrous results as actions are misinterpreted or magnified in the context of the murder investigations. Very ripples-on-a-pond sort of viewpoint.
This was a very interesting book to read. It was more of a personality study than a mystery, a look inside several people's minds as they are thrown into circumstances they didn't expect. As a result, the characters all seem very real and believable, not just stereotyped cast members. There is nothing 'neat' about this mystery - there are dozens of loose ends at the end of the case, and even if Dalgliesh is satisfied that he understands what happens, it doesn't mean that every thread is neatly tied up. And (without giving any of the plot away) so many of the loose ends simply result from human nature - an extra glass in a dish drainer in the sink, does it mean one person at dinner or two? The reader knows what happened, but the police do not and will never know.
The book looks a lot at family - parent-child, spouses, siblings - and the pulls of duty that family puts on a person. The only unattached person in the story was the 'main' murder victim. The other characters were all bound or driven or shaped by their family situations, whether it was a main character facet or not. Even Dalgliesh, a widower and a very private character, spent a good amount of time thinking of his late wife and infant son, because of his Norfolk counterpart Inspector Rickards' approaching new baby.
The 'main' murder victim was as unusual as the mystery. She was not one of those characters where there is a strong "evil" characterization, where you know immediately that she will be the one to die, and you won't feel any sympathy for her. She was intensely disliked (murder victims in mysteries have to be that way, otherwise you have a very short list of suspects) but as you saw in her mind, she felt she was justified in her actions. In a few cases, you could almost see her side of things. By the end of the book, I felt that she was one of those strong personalities that throws herself into whatever she does and earns respect, even if not liked.
The setting was almost a character, too. The isolation of the headland, the looming presence of the sea and of the nuclear power station forming the backdrop to the story. James spent as much time describing the setting as any one of the characters. Maybe that's why I enjoyed the book - the windy, cool, grey Norfolk seacoast is probably one of the farthest places from the glaringly bright, hot CA desert as I could imagine :)
Overall: 5 of 5. I really enjoyed it (it's rare that I immediately start rereading a book after finishing it) but take note that if you're looking for a more traditional mystery, this probably isn't the Dalgliesh mystery for you.
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