Shroud for a Nightingale (Inspector Adam Dalgliesh Mystery)

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Southern Charm' Star Olivia Flowers Shades 'RHOBH' Star Crystal Kung Minkoff After BravoCon: "I Thought She Was Rude" Miss Burrows poured out both cups of tea, dropped two lumps of sugar in her friend's cup and took her own to the chair by the window. Early training forbade Miss Burrows to sit on the bed. She said: "You need to be off early. I'd better run your bath. When does it start?" There was immediate concern. Only Nurse Harper made no move to help. The rest gathered around the girl, glad of the chance to be doing something. Nurse Goodale said: "I'll take her to the downstairs cloakroom." Phyllis Dorothy James, known as Baroness James of Holland Park, is not accidentally called the modern Agatha Christie. The total circulation of her books is more than sixty million copies, and their end-to-end character, detective-poet Adam Dalgliesh, is rightfully among the most beloved book detectives. I'm meeting him for the first time and I admit I'm fascinated. This new Dalgliesh series is rich, detailed, and demanding, an impeccable collaboration between lead writer Helen Edmundson ( An Inspector Calls), Stephen Greenhorn ( Doctor Who), and lead director Jill Robertson ( Trainspotting), who is joined by Andy and Ryan Tohill ( The Dig), and Lisa Clarke ( Sanditon). The accomplished cast is led by Bertie Carvel ( Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell). In other words, this team knows what it’s doing.

The book is OK enough but the denouement is pretty silly and is the sort of thing that makes 95% of the book feel like a total waste. There aren't enough clues for it to make sense and the ones given which do lead to the ending don't really feel consistent or reasonable. They try and link the ending to a character's personality and then right at the end do a "oh btw actually it's someone totally different" for who there are 0 clues given. Not horrible horrible but pretty typical mystery fare in that the ending may as well be detached from the rest of the book because the rest of the book isn't important. Yπάρχουν κάποια λάθη (ευτυχώς, όχι πολλά για να κάνουν περίεργη εντύπωση) στην μετάφραση και την εκτύπωση του βιβλίου... What is the book about? Strange and scary things happen at the nursing school. Right at the practical lesson, a student dies. Do you know the procedure of anal feeding when a patient cannot eat for some reason? Her skill, like any other, should be worked out by future sisters, and fellow students serve as a model for procedures in turn. The one to whom this has fallen today is injected with another substance instead of warm milk. And a day later - another death.It was the dark sulky-looking girl who answered, her voice carefully repressing any note of enthusiasm or even interest. Certainly not an agreeable girl, thought Miss Beale. Stream It or Skip It: ‘Faraway Downs’ on Hulu, A Laudable Expansion of Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Australia’ That Tries To Repair The Sins Of The Past It would be," thought Miss Beale. Whenever there was a crisis in the hospital the first people to be sacrificed were the student nurses. Their training programme could always be interrupted. It was a sore point with her, but now was hardly the time to protest. She made a vaguely acquiescent noise. They started down the last staircase. Mr. Courtney-Briggs continued his monologue: I exaggerate a bit, but their condescension and awareness-of-status/position/class is glaringly clear in so many books I read by English writers, even those set in the present day.

The novel "Shroud for a Nightingale" has nothing to do with "The Lady with the Lamp" or the Nightingale from the women's intelligence network, sung by Kristina Hanna. Although the echoes of the events of the Second World War will play a significant role here, and the place of action will be a nursing school. Our Take: James’ Dalgliesh novels, especially Shroud For A Nightingale, which is this new series’ first mystery, have been adapted for television before. What this series, written by Stephen Greenhorn and Helen Edmundson, does is put Adam Dalgliesh in 1975, shortly after losing his wife. We know he’s a poet of some renown, and we know that he’s not one of those kinds of detectives that browbeats confessions out of his suspects. He’s a thoughtful, empathetic detective, who also seems to look authoritative in his wide-lapeled ’70s-era three-piece suits. Just take this road to the left, Miss, and keep straight on past the mortuary till you get to the resident medical quarters. Then turn to the right. There's a signpost where the road forks. You can't miss it."CRIME/PLOT = 3 stars: The first murder is wildly original and is indeed disturbing. The second not so much as it is rather bland, even for this genre: it's that typical/expected 2nd murder that you just know is right around the corner. Sometimes it works, sometimes, like here, it's about word count. I had heard of P.D. James before but had never read any of her works, and I didn't really know she wrote mysteries. So I was quite pleasantly surprised by Shroud for a Nightingale--so much so that I've since read another James and am onto a third. Miss Burrows frequently terrified her own students, not to mention most of her colleagues on the teaching staff, but would have been amazed to be told it. Miss Beale asked: The complexity of the characters is one of the delights when reading PD James. Unlikeable characters turn out to have wholly innocent explanations for their rather suspicious carrying-on, while the more likeable ones have the most to hide. The author is sharply observant and remorseless in her portrayal of the arrogance of surgeons and the unconscious selfishness of young girls in a school environment. Nurse Pardoe shrugged and pursed her lips into a little secret smile. She said: "By accident. Or it might have been a practical joke. Or perhaps it was done on purpose."

No one replied. The logic was apparently unassailable. It was impossible to imagine anyone wanting to murder Pearce. Pearce, Miss Beale realized, was either of the company of the naturally inoffensive or was too negative a personality to inspire the tormenting hatred which can lead to murder. Then Nurse Goodale said drily: "Pearce wasn't everyone's cup of tea."

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Is that the Hospital Secretary's office? Is Mr. Hudson there? It's Matron." There was a pause. "Good morning, Mr. Hudson. I am speaking from the ground floor demonstration room in Nightingale House. Could you please come over immediately? Yes. Very urgent. I'm afraid something tragic and horrible has happened and it will be necessary for you to telephone the police. No, I'd rather not tell you on the telephone. Thank you." She replaced the receiver and said quietly: "He's coming at once. He'll have to put the Vice-Chairman in the picture, too -- it's unfortunate that Sir Marcus is in Israel -- but the first thing is to get the police. And now I had better tell the other students." It was then that the door opened. Matron came quietly in and shut it behind her. There was a creak of starched linen as the twins slipped from the desk and stood to attention. Nurse Harper rose gracelessly from her chair. All of them turned towards Miss Taylor. It seems contradictory, but this is still a 5 star book even if it has to come with an Unsatisfactory Ending Alert ™. P.D. James is definitely hitting her stride here with her trademark style of novels set in "an enclosed world, seething with malice, intrigue, hatred and murder.*" This feels like a step-up in confidence for James's Dalgleish series: it still has its roots in the classic Christie-esque (the closed community, the poisonings, the limited circle of suspects, the secret lives beneath the surface) but the NHS setting gives it oomph. I did wonder if women in the 1970s were quite this old-fashioned (49 is impending old age, nurse's training is abandoned on marriage, a whiskey night-cap is an indicator of racy behaviour) but that's a question, not a criticism. The six-episode Acorn TV series, premiering Monday (Nov. 1), stars Bertie Carvel as the titular Dalgliesh; each close-ended episode airs in two parts, with different supporting characters.