This was an audio reread for me. I first read PD James as a teenager and I remember especially liking the two Cordelia Gray books. Considering how many female PI stories I’ve read in the last few years I thought that it was about time for me to go back and see how these books compared to more recent offerings.

I was expecting to be a little disappointed and to have the book not quite stand up to my memories of it but James’ talent didn’t let me down. The plot is neat and a little too tidy for my tastes nowadays but it works very well. I still like Cordelia though one of the main shocks in this book was her age. She’s twenty-two in the book. I was probably fifteen or sixteen when I first read this and it’s only reasonable that she seems much younger to me now that I’m nudging thirty.

I also didn’t remember that James’ other character Dalgleish featured in this book as well. I think I’m also going to reread the other Cordelia Gray book on audio and I still think it’s a pity that James only wrote two of them.