The Murder Room

I liked it and I didn't. Bruno is a laid-back chief of police who spends more time covering up crimes (against EU food laws, mainly) than solving them. When a real-life murder takes place in his territory, in the south of France, in a small village, he does step in.

An elderly man is murdered. There is much suspicion of terrorist groups, and the national police arrive to take charge. Bruno works with the attractive female representative to provide local color, while continuing his unhurried encounters with the villagers and ultimately finding a solution.

I found the odes to the French village tiresome, as some others have. I can appreciate the slow pace, the beautiful surroundings, being part of the village. I am less enamored with the casual slaughter of animals, whether according to EU rules or not. I am weary of simplistic characters.

I don't particularly enjoy stories that are steeped in details of last night's meal to the extent that one could actually make the recipes at home. Further, I found a kind of self-satisfaction, almost smugness, throughout. I did appreciate the complexities of the story, the ultimate solution to the crime. ( )

In James' mysteries there are no penetrating interviews by hardened detectives, no rushing around, no plodding research. Instead this is a stately, measured account of murder in the cultivated setting of a private museum and school. Commander Adam Dalgliesh, the detective in charge, writes poetry so naturally it offers a suitably cultivated air. But the upper crust can commit heinous crimes as well as anyone else. P.D. James is hard to beat. ( )

Dalgliesh tries to find time for a new love interest, as he leads the investigation into a gruesome murder of one of the trustees of a family museum. Interesting characters (although one or two of them are slightly stock-y), lots of threads to untangle. The clearest motivations are not necessarily the ones to trust, of course, but I thought James dropped a sneaky clue near the beginning, especially when chapters and chapters went by without much attention being paid to that particular possibility. Naturally I was all wrong. I've never yet figured her out, and that's the fun of it. ( )

James brings us into a classic cozy murder with a backdrop of a museum and family squabbles. As skeletons come out of the closet, we discover the true nature of the characters in all their complexity. I love the elegance of the writing, the carefully constructed plot and Jamaes's witty eye for detail. Dalgleish reserves us a surprise at the end - a neat little way to end on a positive note. ( )

One of my reasons for picking up PD James is the consistent pattern of her novels. Once you get used to the style and the narrative, you pretty much know what to expect and well, get it.

In a nutshell:

The setting is a small elite museum in London, devoted to inter war years founded by a war veteran and carried forward by his children who act as trustees. However, when one of the trustees is murdered, suspicion falls on the siblings, volunteers and as investigation goes on, it brings to fore, the lives and motives of the characters.

But what is interesting is the how James has used this platform to show the class differences in her characters, in their thoughts and also their lives and use it as a dimension to the story. The character portrayal and keen observations make all her novels fascinating and well, this one falls in the same category.

What works:

A great setting and characters

Good suspense

What doesn't:

Limited use of direct speech could mean that reading it could get a bit monotonous at times.


I have never been able to guess the killer in her novels. The day I do, I may no longer read her. But that is unlikely to happen. ( )