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The Private Patient (Adam Dalgliesh Mysteries) |  | Author: P.D. James
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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as of 9/4/2010 00:15 CDT details
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Seller: previously-enjoyed
Rating:  109 reviews
Sales Rank: 166631
Format: Deckle Edge
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.7 x 1.4
ISBN: 0307270777
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780307270771
ASIN: 0307270777
Publication Date: November 18, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Cheverell Manor is a lovely old house in deepest Dorset, now a private clinic belonging to the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. When investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn arrived there one late autumn afternoon, scheduled to have a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar removed, she had every expectation of a successful operation and a pleasant week recuperating.
Two days later she was dead, the victim of murder.
To Commander Adam Dalgliesh, who with his team is called in to investigate the case, the mystery at first seems absolute. Few things about it make sense. Yet as the detectives begin probing the lives and backgrounds of those connected with the dead woman—the surgeon, members of the manor staff, close acquaintances—suspects multiply all too rapidly. New confusions arise, including strange historical overtones of madness and a lynching 350 years in the past. Then there is a second murder, and Dalgliesh finds himself confronted by issues even more challenging than innocence or guilt.
P. D. James has gained an enviable reputation for creating detective stories of uncommon depth and intricacy, combined with the sort of humanity and perceptiveness found only in the finest novelists. The Private Patient ranks among her very best.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 109
 Another fine novel from the Baroness August 28, 2010
lb136 (New York, NY USA)
(Steps up to the platform, taps microphone, oops feedback, adjusts device), starts to talk:
OK, I'm going to review P.D. James's "The Private Patient" now. Umm, but before I begin, I want to tell you that while you learn who the murder victim is in the first paragraph, the murder doesn't take place for another 90 pages in a book that has 352 of them. Those who'd prefer to hear about something else might want to try room 15B where . . . (Sound of chairs scraping, scurrying, and cries of "hello---I must be going!"
Alright, for those who remain, this is another of the author's tales of the intellectual detective Adam Dalgliesh and his squad, who must discover who murdered that private patient, Rhoda Gradwyn, an investigative reporter who shows up at the Dorsetshire clinic of a plastic surgeon in order to get a scar removed. She's a private patient, which in British terms means in that the operation is on her dime, not that of the coungtry's (in)famous National Health Service.
As always with Ms. James, the novel is stuffed with background information about the many suspects, lush descriptive passages, cynical asides about the state of the modern world, and a good suspenseful plot (albeit one more impressionistic than usual, even by the author's own standards).
If you're a fan of the series, don't pass it up--it may be the last one Ms. James, approaching 90, may ever get to write. And it would appear from some of the scenes in this book that she's well aware of that.
 Start in the middle August 28, 2010
ohng
The first half of the book is spent creakily wheeling the characters and plot into position. One can start at about the point where AD is interviewing the cast of possible suspects in the library without any real loss. Unfortunately that is where I dropped out, the prospect of two hundred more pages of AD plodding around being too much to contemplate. It seems, from reading the end, that most of the action and character revelation occurs in the last half. So save your energy if you are going to read this book, and start in the middle.
Not her best August 16, 2010
A. Malcolm Mccomb (Coronado, CA)
I have read all of P D James mysteries that I know about and while this had a very good story line, it really dragged and got caught up in details. I do not need to know when and where and what everybody had for every meal. On the other hand, when AD is called on to solve another murder, I will be there.
Only So-So August 11, 2010
JWW (Ottawa, Canada)
As a die-hard P.D. James fan, I shrink at the task of reviewing this, her latest installment of Adam Dalgleish and his special crimes unit squad. I must say that as much as I wanted to like this book, I was disappointed with it.
As a starter, I found the story to be average, and almost entirely predictable all the way through. The location descriptions fall short of James' typical lavish details, and the content and character development normally found in a P.D. James works falls short of her best efforts to date (in order, they would be Death in Holy Orders, The Murder Room, and The Lighthouse). This was a true disappointment for me after following Dalgleish for many years. I wonder whether the Baronesse James of Holland Park is using a ghost writer now? Perish the thought!!
If you absolutely need to see the next steps in the Adam Dalgleish/Emma Levanham saga, they you must read this book. But if you are not interested in how that ends up, you can save yourself some time by passing this one over.
Stale and tired July 31, 2010
Srdjan Pesic (Minneapolis, Mn United States)
P.D. James is a grand dame of mystery writing. Her powerful and precise prose will forever be the example of crime novels at their best.
Unfortunately, this book is not in the same category. If you edit very few referencies to cell phones and computers, this novel could've been set in 1970's, 60's or even 50's. It is a stale, tired old formula that desperately needs freshening up.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 109
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