Summer

23 December 2009

THE PRIVATE PATIENT - P D James, narr Rosalyn Landor


B&N synopsis: Cheverell Manor is a lovely old house in deepest Dorset, now a private clinic belonging to the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. When investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn arrived there one late autumn afternoon, scheduled to have a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar removed, she had every expectation of a successful operation and a pleasant week recuperating.
Two days later she was dead, the victim of murder.
To Commander Adam Dalgliesh, who with his team is called in to investigate the case, the mystery at first seems absolute. Few things make sense. Yet as the detectives begin probing the lives and backgrounds of those connected with the dead woman--the surgeon, members of the manor staff, close acquaintances--suspects multiply all too rapidly. New confusions arise, including strange historical overtones of madness and a lynching 350 years in the past. Then there is a second murder, and Dalgliesh finds himself confronted....
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It's been a long while since I've read or listened to a book by P D James. The last one was a couple of years ago, THE LIGHTHOUSE. I do love her books, but I need a few years between each one. They are chewy, involved, well developed mysteries. Each one has highly detailed background on each character so that the reader doesn't really know who might be a suspect, because each person could be. The mystery can be solved (or is it?) and there is more story to be told. I love that P D James writes more than just the mystery. I will be a fan forever, especially of the Adam Dalgliesh series.
Five in-depth British mystery beans....

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