The Private Patient (Adam Dalgliesh Mysteries)
by: P.D. James
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Cheverell Manor is a lovely old house in deepest Dorset, now a private clinic belonging to the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. When investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn arrived there one late autumn afternoon, scheduled to have a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar removed, she had every expectation of a successful operation and a pleasant week recuperating.
Two days later she was dead, the victim of murder.
To Commander Adam Dalgliesh, who with his team is called in to investigate the case, the mystery at first seems absolute. Few things about it make sense. Yet as the detectives begin probing the lives and backgrounds of those connected with the dead woman—the surgeon, members of the manor staff, close acquaintances—suspects multiply all too rapidly. New confusions arise, including strange historical overtones of madness and a lynching 350 years in the past. Then there is a second murder, and Dalgliesh finds himself confronted by issues even more challenging than innocence or guilt.
P. D. James has gained an enviable reputation for creating detective stories of uncommon depth and intricacy, combined with the sort of humanity and perceptiveness found only in the finest novelists. The Private Patient ranks among her very best.
Cheverell Manor is a lovely old house in deepest Dorset, now a private clinic belonging to the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. When investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn arrived there one late autumn afternoon, scheduled to have a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar removed, she had every expectation of a successful operation and a pleasant week recuperating.
Two days later she was dead, the victim of murder.
To Commander Adam Dalgliesh, who with his team is called in to investigate the case, the mystery at first seems absolute. Few things about it make sense. Yet as the detectives begin probing the lives and backgrounds of those connected with the dead woman—the surgeon, members of the manor staff, close acquaintances—suspects multiply all too rapidly. New confusions arise, including strange historical overtones of madness and a lynching 350 years in the past. Then there is a second murder, and Dalgliesh finds himself confronted by issues even more challenging than innocence or guilt.
P. D. James has gained an enviable reputation for creating detective stories of uncommon depth and intricacy, combined with the sort of humanity and perceptiveness found only in the finest novelists. The Private Patient ranks among her very best.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- who are these people?
Have read all her books and get caught up in the plots, but her characters grow increasingly stiff, humorless and either whiny, chilly, or obsessed in every book. No warmth, not a single flash of wit, no remotely realistic dialogue, lots of irritating condescension (Rhoda used the word "presumably" three times in the same short conversation with a chambermaid), no one you could imagine a friendship with. More time spent listing menus than creating a single engaging person.
Rating: 
- The Private Patient-
Let's hope that P D James continues towrite-This one kept me in my seat- that is- the airplane seat and that takes a lot. She is the Grand Dame of Mystery in the UK-sorry Agatha-
Rating: - Ghosts from the past
You are never sure if a novel might be the last in the series.The previous novel could have been, and this novel might be.The author is past 80 and still writing.
This novel starts a bit slow with, sometimes, a bit more background color than I like (descriptions of various locations, etc.).Once the plot develops, it moves along at a faster pace.An investigative reporter is murdered while at a private clinic for cosmetic surgery.Investigative reporters always manage to create ... Read More
Rating: - `I hate having my work wasted.'
Rhoda Gradwyn, a notorious investigative journalist, is booked into a private clinic in Dorset for the removal of a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar.This should have been a successful operation by a distinguished surgeon with a week's peaceful convalescence in a beautiful Dorset manor house.
Unfortunately Ms Gradwyn was not to leave Cheverell Manor alive.
Who killed Rhoda Gradwyn, and why?It seems that the murder is an inside job and there is no shortage of suspects. ... Read More
Rating: - A masterpiece of literature in a mystery novel
The Private Patient
By P. D. James
Alfred A. Knopf, 2008, 352 pages
ISBN: 978-0-307-27077-1
Reviewed by Israel Drazin
P. D. James is the queen of mystery writers. Her Adam Dalgliesh thrillers are engrossing stories of murder and police detection and superb literature. She has succeeded where other authors have failed. Many of their mysteries are best sellers and certainly engrossing reads, but the English author P.D. James has done this and created a literary volume ... Read More
- who are these people?Have read all her books and get caught up in the plots, but her characters grow increasingly stiff, humorless and either whiny, chilly, or obsessed in every book. No warmth, not a single flash of wit, no remotely realistic dialogue, lots of irritating condescension (Rhoda used the word "presumably" three times in the same short conversation with a chambermaid), no one you could imagine a friendship with. More time spent listing menus than creating a single engaging person.
- The Private Patient-Let's hope that P D James continues towrite-This one kept me in my seat- that is- the airplane seat and that takes a lot. She is the Grand Dame of Mystery in the UK-sorry Agatha-
- Ghosts from the pastYou are never sure if a novel might be the last in the series.The previous novel could have been, and this novel might be.The author is past 80 and still writing.
This novel starts a bit slow with, sometimes, a bit more background color than I like (descriptions of various locations, etc.).Once the plot develops, it moves along at a faster pace.An investigative reporter is murdered while at a private clinic for cosmetic surgery.Investigative reporters always manage to create ... Read More
- `I hate having my work wasted.'Rhoda Gradwyn, a notorious investigative journalist, is booked into a private clinic in Dorset for the removal of a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar.This should have been a successful operation by a distinguished surgeon with a week's peaceful convalescence in a beautiful Dorset manor house.
Unfortunately Ms Gradwyn was not to leave Cheverell Manor alive.
Who killed Rhoda Gradwyn, and why?It seems that the murder is an inside job and there is no shortage of suspects. ... Read More
- A masterpiece of literature in a mystery novelThe Private Patient
By P. D. James
Alfred A. Knopf, 2008, 352 pages
ISBN: 978-0-307-27077-1
Reviewed by Israel Drazin
P. D. James is the queen of mystery writers. Her Adam Dalgliesh thrillers are engrossing stories of murder and police detection and superb literature. She has succeeded where other authors have failed. Many of their mysteries are best sellers and certainly engrossing reads, but the English author P.D. James has done this and created a literary volume ... Read More
