Death in Holy Orders: An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery: 11

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James, as she always does, manages to invest even a simple mystery novel with a depth and intelligence that few in her trade can match." - Marcel Berlins, The Times Others present include only a few of the students, the Fathers, the resident help, a visiting lecturer, Emma Lavenham, and a researcher, Clive Stannard. Despite that, everyone except the 'baddie' who is murdered loves him, including Dalgleish himself and his new love interest so James makes it very clear that we as readers are supposed to side with them: as one character says 'He pleaded guilty to misbehaviour with two young boys. He didn't rape them, he didn't seduce them, he didn't physically hurt them' - so in James' world and that of the book, a bit of covert fondling and illegal touching of young boys is perfectly fine - he might not have 'physically' hurt them, but any psychological trauma from being assaulted by their priest is airily waved away.

On the plus side, the story was complex and quite well constructed. I didn't guess who 'dunnit' until it came out about two thirds of the way through that someone had a huge motive for commiting a string of murders, the rest of the book being about how Commander Dalgleish goes about proving it. As those who've read the Dalgliesh series know, James winds her characters, their personal thoughts, and their psychologies with the plot of the murder-mystery to create a complete story. It is her style and there is no exception here. Unfortunately, except for a few of the clergy, I felt absolutely nothing for the others; no interest at all. They all felt wooden to me. And it was the same for Dalgliesh's team. I found both inspectors Kate Miskin and Piers Tarrant tiresome. Even Dalgliesh himself wasn't in his best element, although he was comparatively the most humane.Nowhere in the first section does James seem merely to be going through the motions, but in the later ones she falters very occasionally, giving in to trite and unnecessary predictability in stray sentences and explanations: Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival. Religious overtones? - Yes Any non-mystery subplot? - religion Crime Thriller - Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) - Yes Main Character Gender - Male

The narrative proceeds predictably, with a series of interviews interspersed with chapters that afford the principals opportunities to interact when they are away from prying officials. The priests are the central figures. Avuncular Father Martin, eighty years old, former warden, and senior member of the quartet, is confidant to many. Father Sebastian, present head of the seminary, is a gruff cleric, jealous of his position and prerogatives. Father Peregrine, priest librarian, is a quiet, cherubic man with a possessive attitude toward his domain. Father John, who was convicted of sexual offenses with boys and served a prison term, shares quarters with his elderly sister. Among the others are George Gregory, part-time teacher and full-time resident; Clive Stannard, grandson of a college benefactor, who comes for weekends ostensibly to do research; Roger Yarwood, at the college for a rest cure following the break-up of his marriage; and Eric Surtees, a handyman who, at St. Anselm’s, has found the tranquillity he always had sought. To these men, the college is a haven, fulfilling personal, professional, and spiritual needs. On one hand, each has a vested interest in the continuation of the school, but at the same time, the priests would gain financially by the demise of the school. Whether the Archdeacon in this regard indeed represents a threat to their well-being is open to question. Father John, however, received a long prison sentence for his crimes largely due to the Archdeacon’s zeal; and when Crampton’s wife committed suicide, Yarwood, then a police sergeant, raised questions of irregularities at the inquest; further, Raphael Arbuthnot, senior ordinand and the last descendant of St. Anselm’s founder, despises the Archdeacon for having hounded Father John into prison. Dalgliesh visits Saint Anselm's in a semi-official capacity to follow up the death of a student some time previously as the student's father was not satisfied with the verdict. Whilst there, a visiting archdeacon is murdered. Dalgliesh is assigned the investigation, summoning DI Miskin and DI Tarrant from London to assist, as well as local officers. Initial suspicion falls on one of the priests who run and teach at the college, as the archdeacon was known to be recommending the closure of the college. It appears to have been a natural one, though in this case the reader already knows for certain that it was not. The novel was adapted for television in 2003 as a two-part BBC mini-series, and also released on DVD.The mystery started with a lot of promise. And as I've already said it was complex and well structured. There were a few suspicious deaths and one positive murder, so it wasn't easy to guess the criminal, nor it was any easier to fathom a connection between the deaths. My suspicions, even though I felt illogical at the time, proved to be true in the end. Now I used the word "illogical", and that is how I still feel, for there is no other word to describe the absurdity of it all. The motive behind the crimes was simply ridiculous! It was a heavy blow to the carefully constructed structure of the murder-mystery which at the weight of it staggered and collapsed.

I also wasn't sure I believed the murderer's motives at the end. There were so many red herrings in this novel. Well thank you for coming to see me, Father. I always appreciate your visits. But, sadly, sex is the last the thing on my mind right now." Another quotation: 'Father John confessed to abusing some young boys in his choir. That's the word they used, but I doubt there was much real abuse.' And James clinches her support for her 'gentlest... kindest' of sexual offenders by offering up that old chestnut that while he may have illicitly fondled the first two boys, the others who came forward with evidence were just lying. The end result is a sombre, serious novel about guilt, remorse, responsibility and death. (...) She believes that, just as the strict sonnet form can contain great poetry, a traditional detective novel can bear the weight of a serious moral theme. I think so, too, and found this one absorbing and provocative. But it's not light entertainment." - Jessica Mann, New Statesman Though one can enjoy the author's sharp-eyed portrayal of domestic interiors, which goes hand in hand with an acute dissection of character and personality, and cannot but appreciate the uninhibited manner in which she sets about her pet aversions -- the two most prominent are the modernisation of the Church of England and the Macpherson Report -- the book is far less satisfying as a detective story." - T.J. Binyon, Evening StandardMany authors certainly write with confidence, but it is generally misplaced confidence; not so with James.) This is not a madman moved by evil passion to commit terrible acts, but a psychologically complex person about whom Dalgliesh wonders how he will endure his imprisonment and “was he even now looking from his barred windows and wishing that he, too, could smell the sweetness of this spring day?” The book starts with finding the dead body of Ronald Treeves, a young theology student at St Anselms. Ronald died climbing a sandy cliff which fell suffocating him. The coroner deemed his death as suicide, Ronald a prominent man is not happy with the ruling and asks Adam to investigate. The novel is mainly set in and around an Anglo-Catholic theological college, Saint Anselm's, on the windswept coast of East Anglia. It provides an insight into the structure of the Church of England and its training of students, known as ordinands, for religious ministry. When Dalgliesh is about to leave for St. Anselm’s, he recalls in detail his earlier visits, including one at age fourteen when he fell in love with a fifteen-year-old girl, Sadie, for whom he wrote a poem (which he recites to himself). The occasion is so vivid in his memory that he remembers the specific date of their innocent tryst. James also describes his journey from London to Ballard’s Mere, some four hundred miles, at great length, with precise descriptions of the countryside: