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BEGINS |
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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 7, No. 1 |
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P. D. JAMES' NEW MYSTERY RON MILLER is co-founder and managing editor of TheColumnists.com. With us since Dec. 1, 1999. |
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The 13th Adam Dalgliesh
mystery is a sure classic
of TheColumnists.com
Bless the Baroness! She's still got it in her mid-80s, as she vividly demonstrates in "The Lighthouse" (Knopf, $25.95), her 13th and latest Adam Dalgliesh mystery--an intelligent thriller set in a cluster of stone cottages grouped around a spooky lighthouse on England's Cornish coast.
Baroness P.D. James of Holland Park, one of England's two reigning queens of the mystery, along with her friend Ruth Rendell, is not only one of the all-time great mystery writers, but is also a world-class tease.
For instance, fans of her Adam Dalgliesh novels--and viewers of PBS' film of her last one, "The Murder Room"--may recall that Commander Dalgliesh, a widower since his first appearance in print in 1962, had proposed marriage to Emma Lavenham in the final moments of that mystery. It would be natural to expect to find Dalgliesh called back to duty during his honeymoon or something equally upsetting in the opening chapters of this one.
But time has been slipping by for the lovers who met two novels ago and, as this novel begins, there's now some doubt we'll ever hear wedding bells for them at all. The romance has begun to fray at the edges, thanks to Emma's friend, Clara, who doesn't like Dalgliesh, and his continuing commitment to his career.
That's why his new assignment turns out to be especially troublesome for Dalgliesh on the personal side. He'll be working under a higher level of secrecy because a puzzling murder has been committed on the remote island of Combe, the proposed site for a very hush-hush future meeting between England's PM and certain heads of state. Other sensitive government departments are involved and New Scotland Yard is given the job of quickly and quietly solving the murder, taking jurisdiction over the local authorities.
Dalgliesh, whose specialty since being elevated to the rank of commander has been extremely complicated cases, is helicoptered to the island along with his two most trusted detectives, Inspector Kate Miskin and Sgt. Francis Benton-Smith. Their goal: Find out who killed one of England's most famous novelists, Nathan Oliver, whose corpse was found hanging by the neck from a rope thrown over the highest railing of the old lighthouse.
James loves working with the classic setup for an old-fashioned traditional murder mystery, but always imbues her mysteries with several layers of contemporary issues. In "The Lighthouse," she again takes us to an isolated place where all the suspects are confined to a small area and Dalgliesh must sort through their tangled lives.
But underlying it all is James' own notions about the price of fame and why some well-known people who're expert at controlling their own destinies still desperately need an escape hatch from the public eye.
Such a man was Nathan Oliver, who makes enemies like Burger King grinds out meat patties. Only a handful of people on Combe Island can stand him, among them his unmarried daughter, Miranda, who takes care of virtually everything for him and has no life of her own; his work assistant, Dennis Tremlett, who has "saved" several of Oliver's books by patching up his plotting, and Millie, a pretty teenager who was homeless until offered a job on the island resort's staff. When Oliver accidentally spots Miranda and Dennis enjoying a naked tryst together, his fury at them even jeopardizes their attachment to the difficult old man.
The suspects are plentiful, including Jago, the muscled boatman who brought Millie to the island; Dr. Staveley, a disgraced surgeon who has retreated to the island, and Jo, his sexy wife, who serves as his nurse; Dr. Mark Yelland, whose medical experiments on the mainland involve animals, making him the model for a nasty character in one of Oliver's novels; Emily Holcombe, the 80something descendant of the resort's founder, who resents Oliver's attempts to move into her cottage and move her out, and Boyde, a former priest who lost his career due to alcoholism and has come to the island to get away from his sorrows.
Adding to the complications is the fact that Kate Miskin has been having an affair with a former colleague on Dalgliesh's team, with whom she worked very easily, and doesn't like her new subordiante, Sgt. Benton-Smith, at all. Ironically, they are forced to assume all the responsibility of solving not one, but two murder cases when a shocking turn of events takes Dalgliesh out of action.
Devoted readers of P.D. James--and I'm one of those who've read every novel she's written--know that her books are not just breezy mysteries, but instead are intelligently constructed novels that often deal with serious issues while Dalgliesh goes about the task of developing clues. Her reputation as one of the all-time greats is already firmly established and "The Lighthouse" will be another enhancement of that glorious reputation.
If you know a mystery fan who needs a Christmas present that will provide enjoyment for a long time to come, this is the best place to start.
©2005 by Ron Miller.
The book cover reproduction is courtesy of Knopf. This column
first posted Dec. 5, 2005.
Ron
Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist
and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official
companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series. He currently
writes about television mysteries for MYSTERY SCENE magazine
and teaches classes in mystery for the Academy of Lifelong Learning
at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington.
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