Review - The Murder Room

The Murder Room by P. D. James
Year: 2003
Genre: Crime fiction, police procedural
My Rating: 3.75/5
My Source: Library


The Dupaynes, two brothers and a sister run an esoteric London museum dedicated to the interwar years. All is well until one of the brothers, Dr. Neville Dupayne, decides not to support the renewal of the lease on the museum, a move that will lead to its closing, and have a very negative impact on several people involved with it. Thus, when Dr. Dupayne is soon found murdered in a horrifying manner, there is more than one person with a motive for the murder. Adam Dalgliesh, assisted by Inspectors Kate Miskin and Piers Tarrant sets out to find the elusive culprit, and soon finds himself not only dealing with stakeholders in the museum, but also other who emerge from Dr. Dupayne's shadowy private life.

P. D. James is the master of character development, and succeeds in creating complex and three dimensional characters in this book. As with any good whodunit, there is a closed list of suspects, and clues interspersed throughout the book. James' narrative is, as usual, very refined and makes for a compelling read.

This book also features the introduction of a new sergeant, Francis Benton- Smith, a very handsome and ambitious young man of English and East Indian parentage. There is some tension in his relationships with Inspectors Miskin and Tarrant, and I look forward to the further development of these relationships in the next book. There are also important developments in Dalgliesh's personal life, though P. D. James takes great care to see that her detective's personal life never, at any point, overshadows the plot of the novel - commendable indeed.

This book is a page turner, and Adam Dalgliesh solves the mystery with a combination of brilliant detecting and hard work. However, while this book is a solid read, it is not P.D. James' best, and is certainly not in the class of "A Taste for Death" my favorite of all of James' work. While James' characters are usually very multifaceted, this book has several characters whom I found hard to sympathize with, and others who were rather annoying. All said, I would recommend this to anyone who is familiar with James and Dalgliesh, but not to anyone who wishes to try reading James for the first time.

This book counts toward the Typically British Book Challenge hosted by BookChickCity.

This review is now part of Cym Lowell's Book Review Party Wednesday for April 21

Review - Sad Cypress

Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie

Year: 1939

Pages: about 224 (Dell Paperback)

Genre: British Crime, cozy, private detective, whodunit

My Rating: Four Stars

My source: Library used book sale

The short of it: A classic Agatha Christie cozy whodunit featuring Hercule Poirot. If you like a tight plot with a clear short list of suspects, you may enjoy this one.

The long of it:

Elinor Carlisle seems to have it all - a pretty and level-headed young London socialite, engaged to the man she passionately loves, in line for a large inheritance - until things begin to go radically wrong. Her rich old aunt Laura has a stroke, her fiance falls in love with an enchanting woman, Mary Gerrard, who is also getting very close to her aunt. When both the aunt and Mary Gerrard die, Elinor is arrested with what seems to be a watertight case against her. Will Hercule Poirot be able to save her, or as he would put it, discover the truth?

Agatha Christie is master at creating a puzzle and leaving all the pieces in front of you, challenging you to piece it together, and she does it well in this book. Almost all the elements that I enjoy in a classic whodunit are present here - the important characters are all introduced early creating a clear short list of suspects, the characters are well-defined, the clues and red herrings are well-distributed (though one non-essential clue is a revealed rather late), and the reader should have everything in hand to solve the crime before the result is revealed. The characters are all well-defined to the point where one can probably find the equivalent of an Elinor or a Mary in one's life. Poirot makes his appearance only at about page 93 minus Captain Hastings, but is at his element in this book. One unusual feature of this book is the courtroom scene at the end, reminiscent of Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason novels. The mystery is eventually solved with all loose ends neatly tied up as is characteristic of Christie.

On another note, I have long been a fan of Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell and am thus a little familiar with the class distinctions that existed in English society in the Regency and Victorian eras, and the transformations that were taking place as opportunities for social mobility increased. Thus it was interesting to note that this book, written in 1939, addresses the persisting class differences. Christie writes about the difficulties faced by Mary Gerrard who, while being from a working class background, is given a well-rounded education by Aunt Laura. One of the characters comments:

"All this schooling and going abroad! It changed Mary. I don't mean that it spoiled her or that she was stuck-up - she wasn't. But it - oh, it bewildered her! She didn't know where she was any more. She was - well, put it crudely - she was too good for me, but she still wasn't good enough for a real gentleman like Mr. Welman."

Mary no longer fit in with the working class, but she can never be considered on par with the gentry!

While this book is not in the caliber of "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" or "The Murder in the Orient Express", it is very enjoyable and is a good book to read when one is in the mood for a quick, stimulating yet cozy read.

Bonus: The title was taken from a song in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Sad Cypress was adapted for TV in 2003 as part of BBC's Poirot series with David Suchet playing Poirot. Rupert Penry-Jones (of Persuasion fame) played Roddy, Elinor's fiance. Dorney Court, a Tudor manor house from about 1440 was used as a filming location.

Challenges: This book counts toward two challenges I am participating in.

1) The Marple, Poirot, Holmes challenge hosted by Kals, and

2) The Typically British Reading Challenge hosted by BookChickCity

This review is also now part of Book Review Party Wednesday (for April 7) hosted by Cym.

Good first book in a series

Gallows View by Peter Robinson

Year: 1987

My Rating: Four Stars

The short of it: This first book in the Inspector Banks series has a straightforward plot, but is solid in character development.

The long if it:

This is the first in the Inspector Banks series by Peter Robinson. Chief Inspector Alan Banks and his family have just moved to Yorkshire from London and are trying to adjust to both to country life and to the Yorkshire culture. Unfortunately, things are not as quiet as Banks had hoped they would be. He soon finds himself with three cases on his hands - a Peeping Tom, a series of burglaries, and the murder of an old woman, each of which may or may not be related to the others.

Being the first book in a series, the focus is on character development. Robinson provides us with a complex, yet likeable detective. Like Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford, Banks is a family man. However, he is obliged to work with the intelligent and very attractive Jenny Fuller, a psychologist assigned to the case, and finds himself sorely tempted to have an affair with the willing Fuller. This aspect of the story is valuable to the development of Banks' character, and for us to get a better understanding of the man behind the dedicated cop. Banks also has short-lived hobbies and is currently obsessed with opera.

Robinson also paints nice pictures of Bank's wife Sandra and his boss Gristhorpe. It is very refreshing to see that Gristhorpe is a boss who seems to genuinely care about his subordinates and works hard to maintain good relations within the unit - a nice change from the often antagonistic and unpleasant superiors seen in crime fiction (Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series and Martha Grimes' Richard Jury series come to mind here).

The plot itself is not too complex or deep, but there is a nice twist at the end which makes it interesting. The book brings to mind Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus series. The setting (rural Yorkshire) plays a significant role, just as Rankin's Edinburgh does. While Robinson's prose is not as captivating as Rankin's is, and Banks is not as complex or troubled as Rebus is, he is a character with promise and this book left me asking for more of him. If you are a fan of Inspector Wexford or Inspector Rebus, you may enjoy this book. If you have never heard of them, I would still recommend this book to any fan of police procedurals who enjoys becoming involved with the characters.

Quote of Note: "Screeching! Good lord, woman, this is the sound of the human spirit soaring: 'Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore.' " Banks's soprano imitation made up in volume what it lacked in melody.

Bonus: According to Peter Robinson's blog - ITV is getting ready to bring Inspector Banks to television and Stephen Tompkinson is to play Alan Banks. While I'm not too familiar with Tompkinson, he seems to have a solid resume, and can apparently "raise his right eyebrow halfway up his forehead without moving the left eyebrow" (source: IMDb).