The Black Tower (Published in 1975) - Authored by PD James - Danger to Dalgliesh

Published in 1975, the Black Tower is the fifth in the series of Adam Dalgliesh books written by Phyllis Dorothy James, also known as P. D. James. The Black Tower, like its predecessors is not a thriller, but a slow mystery which starts creeping up on the reader, as the story builds, focusing on the setting and characters rather than the events that take place.
In The Black Tower, the Scotland Yard detective has shown to have risen through the ranks and is now Commander Dalgliesh. The book starts in a sober mood, with Commander Dalgliesh not being his usual robust and gentle self. This is because he was misdiagnosed with leukemia which turns out to be glandular fever. However, when an old friend, Father Baddeley, sends him a letter requesting him to stay at Toynton Grange care home in Dorset with him, Dalgliesh decides to visit.
Unfortunately, Father Baddeley seems to die of natural causes before Dalgliesh can make his trip. His body cremated and buried as well. But when the death of another patient, Mr. Victor Holroyd, takes place, Dalgliesh is on edge, as his training and gut instinct tells him that neither death was accidental or unplanned. Victor is said to have committed suicide, with 2 people having witnessed this. One was Julius Court and the other Dennis Lerner.




In spite of various clues which present themselves, the local police do not budge on its ruling that the deaths were not murder. After a few days, when yet another patient as well as the doctor’s wife are found dead, Dalgliesh can sit back no longer. Dalgliesh keeps poking around and connecting the sequence of invents, along with motives and soon comes to the conclusion that one of the suspects runs a heroin smuggling business, using the patients clinic and their biannual tour to get the products from outside the country.
When the culprit realizes that Dalgliesh has found out the truth about him, he tries to kill Dalgliesh, who leaves behind signs for the police to find and save him. James’ novels are not only about the ingenuity of the hero, in this case Dalgliesh, but also a strong villain or culprit, whose eventual defeat makes the protagonist look even stronger.
Better than the storyline is the atmosphere created in the book by P.D. James, which is unsettling to the extent that it’s borderline morbid. The entire story has an ominous feel to it. The setting is perfect, with broken locks, poison pen letters, secret lovers and the looming Black Tower. Overall the book is simple with exquisite James style prose. As a reader you are captivated by the writing and want to read more.
But writing in a manner which builds up to something, is not an easy task. It means that the end must subsequently have an even stronger climax. With James however, this is not a problem. The end is superbly chilling, and feels more so because of James’ impeccable calm and control of her characters, till the very end. All in all, yet another short, fast and brilliant read in the typical P. D. James style.

Shroud for a Nightingale (Published in 1971) - Authored by PD James - Murders of nursing students

Published in 1971, Shroud for a Nightingale is the fourth in the Adam Dalgliesh Series written by the Mistress of Murder – P. D. James. This book portrays a new side to the crime writing skills of James; with her using her vast personal experience (as a nurse during the War) to accurately develop a setting which involves nursing. The book is almost a Horror story with the mystery being solved in the end by the famous Dalgliesh. James has a lovely style of mixing the usual with the unusual. She will describe to the tee every character in the book. But locales and their description are sparse leaving the reader to imagine the places where the crime takes place.
The book takes place in the Nightingale House, a place which instills fear in the heart of the reader right from the onset. The women in the Nightingale House learn to nurse and take care of the suffering. However, when Miss Muriel Beale, the General Nursing Council’s inspector of the Nurse Training school comes to inspect the Third year students’ teaching sessions for the day, she is instead confronted with the murder of a third year student by the name of Nurse Heather Pearce.
Before the faculty can decide whether the death is a result of a prank gone wrong, or a suicide, another death takes place, that of Josephine Fallon. The schools surgeon consultant, asks the police to look into these deaths. Enter Scotland Yard’s finest detective, Adam Dalgliesh. Along with everyone else’s character, we now have Dalgliesh’s point of view and very strong opinions about everyone. Dalgliesh follows up every clue and red herring thrown into the story. He creates a work space at the foreboding brick manor known as Nightingale House. He interviews suspects, listens to the lies spun by them and discovers relationships and discrepancies. The mystery of the murders is only revealed at the end by Dalgliesh, along with the murky side of all the suspects, doctors and nurses.




Once the culprit is revealed, we feel bad for her. But, James has a wonderful way of making the reader feel like they should have all along known who the culprit was, given the fact that there were inconsistencies in the story, and things that didn’t add up in the relationships formed by the perpetrator. From the start, the book has a thrilling feel to it. The setting, the suspects, everything says horror. Another plus point of each one of James’ novels is her wonderful use of words you do not come across every day, for instance, antiphonal (meaning to recite or sing alternately, by two groups). James’ writing is old fashioned that way, but soothing in the general sense. She wants you to focus on imaging the scene of the crime but gives you a complete description of suspects so that you can try guessing who the murderer is. In that way, as a reader we feel part of the story and Adam Dalgliesh’s sleuthing team.  
What makes P. D. James’ novels masterpieces in mystery and murder, is the fact that the crimes in her book are not that of a random psychopath but are almost always personally motivated. This makes the stories all the more dark and thrilling.