A Taste For Death – Part 1

The Barnes & Noble ReviewIn P. D. James’s seventh Adam Dalgliesh mystery, the Scotland Yard commander is faced with the most difficult case — personally and professionally — of his career.

When two bodies are found with their throats slashed in the vestry of St. Matthew’s Church — one a street tramp named Harry Mack and the other Paul Berowne, a recently resigned Minister of the Crown — Dalgliesh and his squad are called in to investigate the highly sensitive case. As Dalgliesh delves deeper into the government official’s checkered past, the list of possible suspects — and potential motives — grows longer with each interview. With very few clues to go on, Dalgliesh must figure out “which of the suspects has the means, the opportunity, the knowledge, the physical strength, the motive?” The answer will surprise even the most adept armchair sleuth…

Fans of highly cerebral mysteries by authors like Ruth Rendell, Francis Durbridge, and Elizabeth George — writers who delve into the dark intricacies of the human psyche and focus more on police procedures and deep introspection than over-the-top blood-and-guts — should by all means sample an Adam Dalgliesh mystery (The Lighthouse, The Murder Room, Devices and Desires, et al.). They are sure to find these novels, featuring a brilliant detective who is also a critically acclaimed poet, absolute crime fiction masterworks. James — whose first Dalgliesh mystery dates back to her very first novel, 1962’s Cover Her Face — isn’t called the Queen of Crime for nothing. Paul Goat Allen