Review: “Cover Her Face” by P. D. James

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(Adam Dalgliesh book 1)

🫆I thought this was a Golden Age mystery at first, but it’s actually set in 1962. IMO James’ style is a bridge between Golden Age and modern detective fiction. CHF involves the traditional setup we find often employed by the likes of Christie and Sayers: a dead body in a locked room of a country pile that costs more to keep up than it’s worth. Naturally, the suspects are all family (local landed gentry, natch) and their weekend guests. Notably, the victim was unconventional for such novels. She was a young woman with ambitions to better her position; possibly by any means available to her.

🫆Dalgliesh novels reflect the social atmosphere of post-WWII Britain. There are definite Golden Age influences, but it’s definitely darker, with more police procedural aspects, emphasis on psychology, and plenty of moral ambiguity. CI Dagliesh is thoughtful and thorough. And with tragedy in his own past, he never overlooks the human emotional angle and picks up on the strong class tension in this case.

🫆I’ve read 5 Dalgliesh novels so far, and thoroughly enjoyed most of them. 

🫆If you enjoyed this novel, you might also give these a try. They give more detective fiction than Golden Age vibes.