Book review

The Grand Dame of crime writers, P.D. James, died last year in her late nineties. While being partial to the odd crime story I had not read any of her books considering that they would probably be of the Agatha Christie mould.

However after reading of her interesting life I thought that maybe my baseless judgement was wrong.

The Library has a couple of dozen of her books in their stack collection of which I chose what is probably her last, ‘Death in Holy Orders’, published at the age of 95 in 2001.

This is a substantial book, 550 pages of small print, it follows the usual thriller format; centred around a detective whose personality has been developed in preceding books and his team. In P D James’ case it is Detective Commander Adam Dalgliesh a very private man who writes poetry. However, apart from this and some bodies along the way the book does not follow the usual crime story lines but is rather more like a well written novel with many nicely drawn characters and scene settings.

The story is set at a small Anglican seminary on the remote Norfolk coast. It is one of several small seminaries which the Church was considering closing in a consolidation move. The Archbishop had come to discuss the situation with the Rector when one morning he was found murdered in the Chapel.

The reader is given a look at life in a seminary and the various reason the young men have chosen the priesthood for a career, of their elderly tutors and visitors who have come in search of spiritual renewal. P D James’ sense of humour is evident in her introductory notes when she writes: ‘I would not wish to discourage candidates to the Anglican Priesthood. It is important therefore to emphasize that St Anslem’s is not based on any real theological college past or present’.

And so the story unfolds with all its sub plots, twist, turns and exciting ending. Believable and beautifully told, this is much more than a every day crime thriller, little wonder that this writer was held in such esteem. The good news is that our libraries have a couple of dozen P D James books in their stack collection. I for one will be taking advantage of this service when I have a hankering for a crime thriller.