Reading the Detectives discussion

Although our 2020 PD James challenge is now over, we still have two books to go. As such, we will finish these over January and February at the start of 2021 and open the discussions mid-month, as we do our buddy reads.

In January, 2021, we will be reading The Lighthouse , published in 2005 and the thirteenth book in the Inspector Adam Dalgliesh series.

Combe Island off the Cornish coast has a bloodstained history of piracy and cruelty but now, privately owned, it offers respite to over-stressed men and women in positions of high authority who require privacy and guaranteed security. But the peace of Combe is violated when one of the distinguished visitors is bizarrely murdered. Adam Dalgliesh is called in to solve the mystery quickly and discreetly, but at a difficult time for him and his depleted team. Dalgliesh is uncertain about his future with Emma Lavenham, the woman he loves, Detective Inspector Kate Miskin has her own emotional problems and the ambitious Anglo-Indian Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith is worried about working under Kate. Hardly have the team begun to unravel the complicated motives of the suspects when there is a second brutal killing and the whole investigation is jeopardised when Dalgliesh is faced with a danger more insidious and potentially as fatal as murder.

Please do not post spoilers in this thread. Thank you.

PD James now has her own folder, to keep the challenge and buddy reads together!

I'm looking forward to this one with its Cornish setting, but haven't started as yet. Who is continuing with the last two books in the series?

Thank you, Judy. It's a really good idea to separate them.

Yes, I have read this one and I will read the last in the series. Seems a shame to have gone so far and not complete.

This is one I have read (listened to the audio book) - and wasn't that keen on it, so didn't bother with the rest of the P D James reads. I think in part it was because I couldn't get involved in the private lives and dilemmas of the police. I might relisten, to join in the discussion with something more than vague memories.

Thank you for setting up all the buddy threads, Susan.

I am also looking forward to completing the series.

Rosina, maybe the discussion will tempt you to give the book another visit. I don't mind hearing a bit about Dalgliesh's private life as it makes him less distant, but I'm hoping the romance element will be a bit more believable in this one than in the previous book.

I don't mind a bit of angst among the police. It happens in lots of crime series.

Once the angsty lives of the police officers become more important than the crimes they are dealing with, and continue from book to book like a soap opera, then I tend to get irritated. It does seem to happen more in recent books, along with the detective with anger management and drink problems.

I'm not that far into it, but I do find Miskin's history of working her way up through the force from her "humble beginnings" quite tiresome.

Jill wrote: "I'm not that far into it, but I do find Miskin's history of working her way up through the force from her "humble beginnings" quite tiresome."

Agree. I've just read her history, again! Seems to be since she came into the picture, we've had her history from illegitimate birth through to her progression in the force over and over again. Once was enough!

I read this six years ago and it was the only Dalglish I read. Checking my review, I intended to start the series because I found the relationship among the detectives interesting. So, the repetition of Miskin's history and Dalglish's strange romance must have interested me then. I wonder how they will strike me now.

I plan on starting fairly soon; my reading plan is all confused right now. Curtain is due back soon (an ebook) while those I have in hardcopy have an indefinite due date while the library decides when it can reopen.

I've started this now and agree I'm getting a bit fed up with the repetition of Kate's history. The romantic liaison near the start of the book is interesting, though!

Mind you, PD James was in her eighties when she wrote this, which is quite impressive. I'll probably be both repeating myself and meandering by that age, so I was impressed that she even wrote it. Agatha Christie also became a little repetitive in the books she wrote in the 1970's, as well as quite grumpy!

I read this and thought that it fell back to her repetitive style. As many of you've observed, it was a bit tiring, listening to Kate's "humble beginning". Like Judy, I too thought the romantic liaison between Kate and Pierce quite interesting. But overall, the story didn't live up to my expectations.

As I haven't been reading the series, I didn't know anything about Kate, or Pierce, or even Adam and his girl-friend, (or the other chap, and his bit of totty ...) Unless these liaisons are going to be relevant for the actual mystery though, I thought far too much time was taken up in telling us about them, and the pages and pages (minutes of narration) spent describing their homes, their loves and their over-night bags might have been omitted or summarized in two sentences each.

I would also be investigating Kate for corruption - how did she, rising from such humble beginnings, afford that river-view flat (with terraces!) on an inspector's salary?

I can't help thinking that because of who she was, people were too afraid to edit James' work. And what do we get in this book? An author who edits his own books (he thinks)

Jill wrote: "I can't help thinking that because of who she was, people were too afraid to edit James' work. And what do we get in this book? An author who edits his own books (he thinks)"

I'm not rereading this novel, but I think this is very true. I found Sue Grafton's "W" & "X" long & rambling, so decided not to bother with Y - even though I had read the rest of the series.

I also find it a bit annoying that so often all the characters seem to share her own political views and say things that are obviously her own thoughts being voiced through them. But she was in her 80s by this time, as you say, Susan, and so the level of grumpiness about changing times isn't all that surprising.

I was wondering if James ever worked in the part of the Home Office that dealt with vivisection. Even if she didn't, she probably had contact with those who did.

I am still only starting on my re-read, so I'm not sure about characters expressing her poitical views. Given how awful most of them are (the characters, I mean) I wouldn't expect her to put her views in their mouths! (Hallowe'en Party by Christie had that problem: every witness echoed the same view of criminals and the criminal justice system!)

I suppose it is difficult for authors not to include their own views. I was brought up short when starting the Tommy and Tuppence to have our investigators told by a member of the British Secret Service that it would be dangerous for the Labour Party to be in government as they were in the pay of the Russians!

For me, it seems odd that Commander Dalgleish (surely not a man without authority) can't ask someone to vacate their office so he can conduct interviews of suspects without another suspect as witness, and that he is prepared to interview an 18 year old girl with that suspect, a woman (also technically a suspect) apparently there as a 'responsible adult' and chaperone, and includes both his subordinates because he doesn't want them to feel left out (although he interviewed the last chap without thinking they ought to be there).

I have a lot of problems with Dalgleish - why can't he compose poetry unless someone commits a murder? why does he think Benton-Smith must be dreaming of the Indian countryside in the helicopter?

The apparent size of the stable block also puzzles me. How many horses would the family need on the island?

Rosina wrote: "For me, it seems odd that Commander Dalgleish (surely not a man without authority) can't ask someone to vacate their office so he can conduct interviews of suspects without another suspect as..."

I'm still laughing after reading your comments.

All I'm going to say is I didn't enjoy this book.

This was published in 2005, and some details feel quite contemporary, such as Dalgliesh bringing his laptop and all the details on forensic advances, so I was quite surprised to see that Emily Holcombe has a butler!

He was more a general servant, wasn't he? He used the word 'butler,' but they seemed to spend an awful lot of time playing scrabble, so I don't think his duties were too onerous...

Yes, I enjoyed the Scrabble scene which I've just read this morning!

I'm more than halfway through now and am enjoying it at the moment - the island is an interesting setting and to me it all seems to be flowing better than some of the other books in the series.