Death in Holy Orders: An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery: 11

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James, as she always does, manages to invest even a simple mystery novel with a depth and intelligence that few in her trade can match." - Marcel Berlins, The Times I also wasn't sure I believed the murderer's motives at the end. There were so many red herrings in this novel. The narrative proceeds predictably, with a series of interviews interspersed with chapters that afford the principals opportunities to interact when they are away from prying officials. The priests are the central figures. Avuncular Father Martin, eighty years old, former warden, and senior member of the quartet, is confidant to many. Father Sebastian, present head of the seminary, is a gruff cleric, jealous of his position and prerogatives. Father Peregrine, priest librarian, is a quiet, cherubic man with a possessive attitude toward his domain. Father John, who was convicted of sexual offenses with boys and served a prison term, shares quarters with his elderly sister. Among the others are George Gregory, part-time teacher and full-time resident; Clive Stannard, grandson of a college benefactor, who comes for weekends ostensibly to do research; Roger Yarwood, at the college for a rest cure following the break-up of his marriage; and Eric Surtees, a handyman who, at St. Anselm’s, has found the tranquillity he always had sought. To these men, the college is a haven, fulfilling personal, professional, and spiritual needs. On one hand, each has a vested interest in the continuation of the school, but at the same time, the priests would gain financially by the demise of the school. Whether the Archdeacon in this regard indeed represents a threat to their well-being is open to question. Father John, however, received a long prison sentence for his crimes largely due to the Archdeacon’s zeal; and when Crampton’s wife committed suicide, Yarwood, then a police sergeant, raised questions of irregularities at the inquest; further, Raphael Arbuthnot, senior ordinand and the last descendant of St. Anselm’s founder, despises the Archdeacon for having hounded Father John into prison.

Its strength might be tenuous and its path convoluted, but when he traced it, it would lead him to the heart of the mystery. The acting was first class, especially Jesse Spencer character Raphael Arbuthnot. I had only ever seen him in Neighbours. His English accent was very convincing and his acting on whole was nothing short of superb. As those who've read the Dalgliesh series know, James winds her characters, their personal thoughts, and their psychologies with the plot of the murder-mystery to create a complete story. It is her style and there is no exception here. Unfortunately, except for a few of the clergy, I felt absolutely nothing for the others; no interest at all. They all felt wooden to me. And it was the same for Dalgliesh's team. I found both inspectors Kate Miskin and Piers Tarrant tiresome. Even Dalgliesh himself wasn't in his best element, although he was comparatively the most humane. The story starts in the past with the original discovery of the boy's body by Margaret Munroe, an elderly woman who works at St Anselms. This part of the story is told through the means of Margaret's diary. She ends it with a statement that the death concerns her and that it reminds her of something that occurred in her past. Margaret is discovered dead the day after this last entry.I think Tara’s summary, in line with others, that the weaknesses of this book are the motive for murder and excusing of sexual abuse, is exactly right.

The conclusion -- the final, full explanation -- and the small ray of hope for Dalgliesh's personal life that are presented in the brief, final section seem almost a bit much -- though James does get away with it (just).It is ruled an accidental death, but the possibility of suicide -- and, of course, of murder -- can not be excluded.

Ms James has always made it clear that she has no time for all this namby-pamby PC rubbish and her high Tory sensibilities have in the past taken swipes at the disabled, the working class especially women, Jews, any woman less than 'ravishingly beautiful', but her skewed view of sexual assault on children is breathtaking. I usually lose interest half way through. I wanted to see this drama after buying the book by PD James and because i never got round to reading it. I decided to watch the drama. Nowhere in the first section does James seem merely to be going through the motions, but in the later ones she falters very occasionally, giving in to trite and unnecessary predictability in stray sentences and explanations: And just to make sure we know where we're supposed to stand, Dalgleish, a Commander at Scotland Yard, has more sympathy for the paedophile who served a three-year prison term than for the fellow-priest who exposed him: 'He [the whistle-blower] did what he saw as his duty and it caused him a lot of pain. Dalgleish privately thought that the greater pain had been suffered by Father John [the convicted paedophile].' I should add that this book was published in 2001.

Reader Reviews

Though one can enjoy the author's sharp-eyed portrayal of domestic interiors, which goes hand in hand with an acute dissection of character and personality, and cannot but appreciate the uninhibited manner in which she sets about her pet aversions -- the two most prominent are the modernisation of the Church of England and the Macpherson Report -- the book is far less satisfying as a detective story." - T.J. Binyon, Evening Standard Commander Adam Dalgliesh, who had spent three summers at St. Anselm's in his youth, offers to poke around.

I can’t help but think of Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach. In that poem the sea of faith is a withdrawing roar revealing the shingles of the world, a metaphor for loss of faith in the modern world. Here the sea is the world eroding the foundations on which St Anselm’s sits, with it’s demise, and thus that of “clever faith”, inevitable.

Book Summary

The recent deaths don't help, but it is the possibly imminent closure of the college weighs most heavily. I don't want to give any of the plot away. The drama is set in the East Anglian coast at a Theological College, where men train to become priest. Adam Dalgish is called to investigate, after the death of one of the students and after the boy's wealthy Father insist on knowing what happened to his son. No sooner Adam Dalgish arrives, there are more murders. The mystery started with a lot of promise. And as I've already said it was complex and well structured. There were a few suspicious deaths and one positive murder, so it wasn't easy to guess the criminal, nor it was any easier to fathom a connection between the deaths. My suspicions, even though I felt illogical at the time, proved to be true in the end. Now I used the word "illogical", and that is how I still feel, for there is no other word to describe the absurdity of it all. The motive behind the crimes was simply ridiculous! It was a heavy blow to the carefully constructed structure of the murder-mystery which at the weight of it staggered and collapsed. To tell the truth just having Adam Dalgleish as the main character makes it a good read for me. I love the fact that he is intelligent, calm, organised, kind and that he thinks before he acts. He is the English version of Armand Gamache. You can always tell the characters you can trust in the story because they are the ones who like him the most.