The Murder room - P.D. James

This is the first P. D. James novel that I have read although it is the 12^th novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series. As with all novels it had its good and bad points. In the end I feel that I would read another of her books but may need a pad of paper to hand to note down specifics about all the characters and what they have done, where they were etc. so I can try to work it out myself.

Plot:

The Dupayne museum is a small private but open to the public museum dedicated to a small period of history between the two world wars. The best known room is quite ghoulish, the murder room. Its name says it all.

The lease of the building is up for renewal. All three trustees have to agree to sign the lease or the museum will close….

A murder is committed within the grounds of the museum and rather a gruesome one at that. Whilst some may morn the deceased others may see it as removing a problem. With more possible suspects than gourmet society members have had hot dinners Police Commander Adam Dalgliesh sees this as a tough crime to solve, he does not have much to go on, and he knows it may only be a matter of time before there is another victim….

What I thought of it.

I found this novel to be very slow to get going and to begin with I found it to be heavy going and I will admit I almost gave up on it a time or two but when I started reading it I was on a 3 hour train journey so it at least kept me occupied. What slows it down is the characterisation of the main characters which although it is very good but there is a far too much of this early on and I found it began to put me off reading it. We get almost the full life story of some of the characters which adds little, if anything, to the actual main plot. There are also perhaps too many main characters as well but this is a common mistake by many authors or a common belief of most readers – or both for that matter.

What could possibly have improved the novel is that the characterisation could have been interwoven into the main plot that bit more to allow it to flow better instead of a mass of information about each one right at the start. However, I suppose concentrating on one character at a time does prevent confusion over who is being referred to.

The settings in particular the museum are well done and you get the impression that the museum as well as the building its self could be loved or loathed in equal measures and so could at least three of the characters. The scenes and discovery of the murders is perhaps slightly gruesome and perhaps a bit too gruesome for some so if you are of a sensitive disposition the book is probably best avoided. The small cottage close to the museum has been well described and does sound homely but there is always that underlying feeling that something isn’t quite right about it. A bit like a house where, for some reason, one room always feels colder than all the others – even when the thermometers say it is the same.

The plot, when it does get going, is well written and it is here where the book gets hard to put down but the random use of rarely used words does grate on me. Whilst details and evidence/clues are given they are not given all at once nor does it become immediately obvious who has committed the crimes. The somewhat heavy characterisation does help the reader understand the characters a bit more but you always feel something is being held back for later – which in some cases it is. The suspense is built in places then ebbs away only to be built up again later – to either a greater or lesser extent. There are enough twists in the novel to keep the reader interested but not so many as to tie your brain into knots nor as to contradict what you have already been told has happened. The conclusion and aftermath appears to provide more background to one of the characters in particular and goes some way to explain the psychology of the crimes.

My biggest bug bear with this novel is the fact that the author has committed the ‘crime’ of the over use of rarely used words some had me reaching for the dictionary. I’d never even heard of ‘mellifluous’ before I read this book (it means smooth or honeyed - apparently). When I was doing my teacher training we were told that sometimes pupils may do this to impress their teacher and to cover up the lack of any real substance in their essays. Well I can’t really convict P.D. James of this but sometimes, a simpler synonym would have been better. (This is, however, only my opinion on this).

As well as the regular chapters the book is also split into sections which are basically the background and lead up to the first murder, the aftermath of the first murder and so on. This gives the reader more scope after the first section is finished as to how much to read at a time either a few chapters or the next section. I was slightly restricted by when my train pulled into the stations I had to change trains at whilst I was reading most of the novel but it worked out fine.

Whilst the museum its self is fictional it is situated on the edge of Hampstead Heath. In the author’s note at the start of the book P.D. James does make an apology for erecting a fictional museum there. Also she apologise for making up a breakdown of the London underground and the railway between London and Cambridge but I doubt this needs that much artistic license.

Summary:

In general the book is well written and works as a stand alone novel – which many in some book series don’t. However, it did take a while to get going so it was a bit of a slog at the start.

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