The contingent of mystery fans here on Kos will be sad to learn that one of the giants of the field, P.D. James, has passed away at age 94 today (Nov 27) in Oxford.
http://archive.courierpostonline.com/...
P.D. James and Ruth Rendell were the two figures that towered over British crime fiction in the post-Agatha Christie era (James published her first book in 1962, Rendell in 1964). They ushered in a new era in which the classic whodunit definitively evolved into the modern crime novel, sometimes called the “whydunit”
James was far less prolific than the ten-years-younger Rendell. She wrote only 19 novels compared to Rendell’s more than seventy titles under two names. But James’s books were extraordinarily well-constructed, and never felt like they were written to meet a publisher’s deadline, as some of Rendell’s recent work unfortunately has. Fourteen of James’s nineteen books featured Adam Dalgliesh, the epitome of the British intellectual detective. Although the character may have strained credibility at times, he was consistently fascinating, as were James’s cast of supporting players in each novel. Although I find far too many mysteries of recent years to be overlong, James's always justified their length.
Most of these novels were set in various institutions – a hospital, a museum, a monastery, a nuclear power plant, etc. As a longtime civil servant herself, James understood the institutional mentality well, and anyone who has worked in such a place will feel her insights. These institutions became like Chinese boxes in her work, gradually letting out their secrets.
Among my favorites are The Black Tower (1975), Death of an Expert Witness (1977), Devices and Desires (1989), Death in Holy Orders (2001), and The Lighthouse (2005). If you haven’t discovered the Dalgliesh series, you could hardly do better than to start with the first one, Cover Her Face (1962) and read them through in order. I have mixed feelings about the television adaptations; I don’t think they really capture the essence of James’s writing. I find that they work very well as audiobooks, however, if you are a fan of that format.