The Murder Room, P. D. James
The Murder Room, P. D. James
42 Rating(s)
List: $24.00 | Sale: $16.80
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The Murder Room

Author: P. D. James

Narrator: Charles Keating

Unabridged: 14 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/14/2003

Synopsis

The Dupayne, a small private museum in London devoted to the interwar years 1919-1939, is in turmoil. As its trustees argue over whether it should be closed, one of them is brutally and mysteriously murdered. Yet even as Commander Dalgliesh and his team proceed with their investigation, a second corpse is discovered. Someone in the Dupayne is prepared to kill and kill again. Still more sinister, the murders appear to echo the notorious crimes of the past featured in one of the museum’s galleries: the Murder Room.

The case is fraught with danger and complications from the outset, but for Dalgliesh the complications are unexpectedly profound. His new relationship with Emma Lavenham—introduced in the last Dalgliesh novel, Death in Holy Orders—is at a critical stage. Now, as he moves closer and closer to a solution to the puzzle, he finds himself driven further and further from commitment to the woman he loves.

About The Author

P. D. James was the author of twenty books, many of which feature her detective hero Adam Dalgliesh and have been televised or filmed. She was the recipient of many honors, including the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award and the National Arts Club Medal of Honor for Literature, and in 1991 was created Baroness James of Holland Park. She died in 2014.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Tessa on April 19, 2024

Cartea face parte din seria 'Adam Dalgliesh' de la New Scotland Yard. In primele 150 de pagini cunoastem pe indelete personajele care se invart in jurul muzeului Dupayne, ce contine Sala Crimelor. Toti acestia vor fi si suspectii crimelor ce au loc acolo, iar prima crima va fi infaptuita abia dupa 1......more

Goodreads review by Karen on June 23, 2024

Catching up… This was another 4th Wednesdays Mystery Readers Group at the Library Book discussion selection that we enjoyed several years ago. And, it had a lot to do with Inspector Adam Dalgliesh and his way of being so deeply engrossed in solving murders, to the point of sometimes not paying enough......more

Goodreads review by Robin on February 16, 2012

I struggled to finish this book. It wasn't just that it was not to my taste (and I read a lot of crime novels). It certainly is not, as it says on the tin, 'Classic, guaranteed to delight all crime addicts.' We're introduced to commander Dalgliesh in chap 1-2. There then follows 8 or 9 chapters devot......more

Goodreads review by John on August 15, 2020

I read this almost cover to cover. An intriguing mystery with lots of red herrings and suspects. There. Are also clues in the text which I complete missed. The Dupayne museum on Hampstead Heath with its murder room of murders past. The dysfunctional Dupayne family. Marcus, Caroline and Neville. Odd......more

Quotes

“[A] superbly realized setting. . . . The plot unfolds at its Jamesian leisure; the rich, almost posh quality of its slow unveiling allows for sharp sketches of character and place. . . . [James] ought never to be confused with such practitioners of the murder-in-the-vicarage genre as Agatha Christie. She is subtler, more sophisticated, much more adept at creating character, and her social conservatism gives her a much darker view of human nature.”
—Martin Levin, The Globe and Mail

“The premise is delicious.”
—Telegraph (UK)

“The Murder Room is a brilliantly crafted novel, brimming with detail and rich in suspense; a further testament to James’s skills in both.”
—Waterstone’s Books Quarterly (UK)

“If crime fiction were classical music, P. D. James’s books would be filed under Grand Opera. In a sense, James is the last of the great Golden Age crime writers. She has an instinctive grasp of narrative: despite the leisurely prose, the shocks are beautifully handled. The plot purrs along like a well-designed and well-maintained engine. James writes with rare authority about the civil service, the police and the justice system. She also does an exceptionally good corpse—she never cheapens the physical appearance of death, but describes it with both respect and clinical attention to detail.”
—The Independent (UK)

“James’s eye for architecture and nature is rare in most genres of the novel now, and this skill for physical description—along with her psychological acuity.”
—The Guardian (UK)

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