New year, new… murder mystery series, I guess. This year’s holiday reading binge introduce me to P.D. James, and I enjoyed her writing enough to try and explore it further. The short stories I read had flavors of the classic English mysteries I love, but with a little more darkness. There was something about the writing that felt a bit more realistic than my favorite Christies…

I found the short stories compelling, but perhaps a little too simple for my taste. In the introduction to that collection, James wrote about her philosophy of the short story – that it focuses on only one idea – and that was true of these stories, to their detriment. But there was enough promise in the character sketches and puzzles that I wanted to try a full-length novel. And where better to start than with Cover Her Face, the first in her series about Adam Dalgliesh?

First impressions

From the very start of Cover Her Face, two things are clear: 1) this is a Very English Mystery; and 2) it is a Very Modern One. The story opens at a dinner in a manor house, where the primary cast is introduced. The full cast of the traditional English Village Mystery is represented, including both manor folks, servants, and a doctor and vicar (for medical expertise and secrets). There’s a slight addition of a matron of a Home for Unwed Mothers – but that’s not particularly outside the usual scope for these stories.

Tensions simmer around the table at dinner, and the conversation is full of little snipes that hint at the major themes. But pretty quickly, James decides to make the implicit explicit, revealing both mundane and sordid details of the relationships around the table. This opening chapter is perhaps the most surprisingly different, at least in this regard. It feels almost like the book version of click-bait – a way to signal This Is Different very early on… But most of the differences from older stories are more subtle.

Character sketches…

As I suspected from reading the short stories, James’s writing shines most brightly when it comes to her characters. Given the space of a full-length novel, James gets to explore them in multiple angles and settings. And she uses that space to expose us explicitly to all the facets of their characters.

This difference first stuck out to me during the investigative interviews. Each cast member gets their own sub-section of the chapter, and James effectively modifies the narrative voice to immerse us in each new perspective. She’s not afraid, either, to let her characters think ugly thoughts. And as a reader, that makes them feel more real – and the narration feel more omniscient – than in other mystery stories.

Many a mystery writer would stop there, satisfied that understood the characters well, and shift to the “primary investigator”. Not so for James, who instead spend several sections of the novel following the casts’ reactions to the entire affair. At one point, Felix tries to investigate by himself, a neat writing trick that:

1. allows us to learn more information that
2. would otherwise have been exposed as boring police evidence while
3. showing us more of Felix’s character while also
4. establishing that the police in this world are, in fact, competent at investigating.

With the luxury of pages and characters, James devotes her time not to the minutiae of an investigation, but rather the people elements. And for the most part, they’re real and three-dimensional – if a bit humorless.

Unfortunately, this attention does not extend to our investigator. Despite my enjoyment of Adam Dalgliesh in the short stories I read, this feels like a relatively early version of the character. He’s a little too perfect an investigator – able to perfectly interrogate and interpret all the evidence before him. He’s a reasonable boss, a reasonable investigator, and very cool and methodical. But there’s nothing yet to latch onto from a personality standpoint, and I’m curious to see what makes him such a popular character.

Wrapping things up

As in every Golden Age mystery worth its salt, Cover Her Face ends with an extended explanatory dialogue. The Sergeant pulls all the characters together to spend dozens of pages on explanation – before his arrest. Not only that, he pulls in external witnesses, who provide their own multi-page recollections, as part of this explanation. And – as much as I love this trope, I’ve got a bone to pick with it in this context.

Golden Age amateur detectives are infamous for this kind of explanatory sequence. My favorite Miss Marple frequently spends pages explaining all the ins and outs of her thought process. But – critically – this is necessary, because she cannot arrest anyone. Amateur or private detectives rely on through explanations to brig criminals to justice, because they have little power otherwise to limit future crimes. But Adam Dalgliesh is a pro, and he can just arrest first, explain later. (Inspector Gamache, for example, tends to try to limit the damage suspects can create.)

The explanation itself is quite long. And while we fully understand the characters, I’m not sure I liked them enough to warrant such detail in the ins and outs of the puzzle. There’s something academic about this part of the story – which is disappointing, because until this point, the characters have been alive, if dry.

What’s next?

All told, a bit of a mixed bag on the first Adam Dalgliesh. I enjoy James’ writing style and her character depth, but find that there’s perhaps a warmth missing. The best English village stories have a perspective on their setting – they may love it, or find it too boring for words, but there’s a feeling there. Somehow this particularly writing feels more like reporting – true to life, but missing a thesis. I’m hoping that future novels bring more of that perspective forward…

Still, I enjoyed the read, and am still intrigued enough to continue this series for the time being. (Should I also watch the Acorn series? Probably not to the level of depth as for Marple, but it could be interesting… Let me know if you’ve watched it.)

Until next time – stay cozy, and stay curious!

This will count for my “book with an omniscient narrator” as part of my 52 Book Club Challenge!