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DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 2, No. 34 |
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reminds us how precious is the superb craftsmanship of England's Queen of Crime A CELEBRATION |
 Baroness James |
P.D. James just seems
to be getting better with age
of TheColumnists.com
IF THEY DIDN'T tell us P. D. James is now in her eighties in the jacket blurb for her latest mystery novel, there's no way we'd deduce her age from what's between the covers of "Death in Holy Orders" (Knopf, $25).
England's Queen of Crime is obviously a much better writer today than she was when she first seized the attention of mystery fans with "Cover Her Face" nearly 40 years ago. Moreover, she has actually transcended the mystery genre and is now widely viewed as one of England's most serious and relevant writers.
Though many may recall that the immortal Agatha Christie published the superb "Curtain," the final Hercule Poirot novel, in her eighties, it would be wise to remember she didn't write it at that age. She had written it in the 1940s--and put it away for that future day when she finally decided it was time for Poirot to pass away into history.
In her later years, James has written her most socially relevant mysteries, among them "Original Sin" and "A Certain Justice," which turned a baleful eye upon two great British institutions--the publishing industry and the legal system. But with her 12th Adam Dalgliesh mystery, "Death in Holy Orders," published earlier this year, she not only examined the current state of the Church of England quite, but also reminded us there's nobody writing today who can concoct a more intellectually satisfying old-fashioned "cozy" mystery than Baroness James of Holland Park.
It's supposed to be a sign of age when a writer begins to fall back on the formulas that worked well for them years and years ago. In some cases, writers who are running short on creative energy actually start recycling their original plots and just change the environment a little. No point in mentioning any names here, but you probably can think of a few.
But
James pulled a few fast ones on us with "Death in Holy Orders,"
putting Commander Dalgliesh back in her primary spotlight after
10 years or so of building up his sidekicks at his expense. Then
she put him into an isolated locale--just as she did in his first
adventure with that remote country estate in "Cover Her
Face"--almost as if she wanted to show us how much better
she can handle that sort of setup nowadays.
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This
time Dalgliesh takes up residence at St. Anselm's, a small theological
college on the desolate coastline of East Anglia, theoretically
to investigate the suicide death of a divinity student whose
wealthy and influential adoptive father has put pressure on Dalgliesh's
superiors at New Scotland Yard.
Because Dalgliesh spent several youthful summers at the college,
accompanying his father, who was a clergyman, he's plunged into
an instant nostalgia about it. At the same time, he learns the
stiff economic realities for the church today soon may force
the tiny college to close its doors permanently.
When a shocking murder takes place at the college while Dalgliesh is actually in residence, he realizes something sinister is going on there that may involve the earlier "suicide" and some other unexplained deaths that followed it. That sets up the classic "cozy" situation: The crime scene is an isolated place, which means all the people there--even the priests--may be suspects.
James dreams up quite a roster of suspects: A pig-loving handyman who's having an incestuous love affair with his half-sister, a rather unsavory journalist; a priest with a background as a child molester; a maverick student who's the last descendant of the college's original benefactress; a local policeman who believes one of the priests got away with murdering his own wife years earlier, and so on.
Her manipulation of all the elements of the mystery is flawlessly smooth and unerringly suspenseful. You can't possibly guess it all, no matter how good you are at collecting clues along the way, and there's even a rather cinematic "final battle" in the stormy waters along the coast to satisfy the action fans among us.
Though Kate Miskin and some of Dalgliesh's other supporting characters are along for the ride sooner or later, James clearly wanted this to be all Adam's show--and it is in a most compelling manner. He's a magnificent character--part poet, part intellectual, part cop, but also part father confessor. He not only solves his crimes, but he also manages to understand why his troubled adversaries commit them.
There are some indications that Baroness James may be lining up certain elements for what may be a final Dalgliesh mystery not too far down the road. For one thing, she seems to be underscoring his loneliness and his growing need for a soulmate. Longtime readers of James will recall that Dalgliesh became a widower shortly before we met him in 1962's "Cover Her Face" when his wife and their first child had both just died.
If you know Dalgliesh only from the PBS "Mystery!" movies and miniseries starring Roy Marsden as Dalgliesh, then you may think he's been involved with several women, but hasn't yet found one worth marrying. In the books, he's had far fewer romantic entanglements--and none for quite a few years.
When I last spoke with James about her hero's prospects for marriage, she agreed that many fans tell her they feel sorry for Dalgliesh and would like to see him marry again. Although James has brought Dalgliesh together on a couple of occasions with her other fictional detective, Cordelia Gray, the unmarried female private eye of "An Unsuitable Job for A Woman" and "The Skull Beneath the Skin," she insists nothing will come of that. Certainly, there seemed no obvious chemistry between them on the written page.
But James actually brings Dalgliesh quite close to a new relationship in "Death in Holy Orders," which may be resolved in a future mystery, if not the next one. My guess is that James will never kill off her hero, as Agatha Christie did with Poirot, but she may be done with him if he ever marries again. I'm only guessing, but I think she wants Adam to have a happy ending.
Naturally, I hope she puts that off as long as her health permits. I don't think she's ever going to taper off as a superior writer, so I look forward to paying regular homage to her as long as she wears the crown of Queen of Crime.
© 2001 by Ron Miller. The book cover illustration and photo of P.D. James are courtesy of Knopf.
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 Ron Miller |
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