The Skull Beneath the Skin (Cordelia Gray Mysteries (Audio))

Rating:
Summary: Glad it was so short
Review: I am new to P D James. I am thankful that this story was so short. I felt that there were certain plot machinations that were improbable (people coincidentally running into others, fortuitously seeing others, too clever 'clues'). Characters behaving much differently from one point to another. And finally, the real murderer getting away with it! The disfiguring of the corpse by the bad guy was out of character and unneccesary. Certainly a risk his character wouldn't have taken. Also why protect Simon only to murder him later? The horrific sendup to the Devil's Cauldron fizzled out, in my opinion. Then to use it in the finale in the manner it was (foolish Cordelia, again) was cheap. Cordelia going to the island unescorted 'knowing' that the owner was the killer was sheer stupidity. She probably didn't star in any future mysteries because she'd been killed by being too naive. One last thing, I wonder if Cordelia had ever heard of a tape recorder? I should think the police would've prosecuted her for allowing a killer to go free by her impetuous behavior? This story smacks of someone needing a new car or a fancied bauble. Dashed off for a quick buck.

Rating:
Summary: Cordelia Gray is a great narrator
Review: I have read almost every book P D James has written, and have always enjoyed reading about Adam Dagliesh and his methods to solving cases. So when I picked up this book, I thought it was another Dagliesh mystery. But it was actually narrated by Cordelia Gray who was introduced in An Unsuitable Job For A Woman. Cordelia is a somewhat inexperienced private detective who is wryly intelligent and humorously self-deprecating, a good contrast to Dagliesh who seems pompous and too tragic on occasion. Cordelia sort of flounders her way through some of the plot, but she is always entertaining. The other characters in this book are mostly interesting, though the murder victim is a bit too vapid to be believed. The setting of this book is the "mysterious castle" and James is excellent at creating suspense in this setting. James also keeps the reader trying to figure out who the murderer is up to the end of the book. A great read!

Rating:
Summary: Cordelia Gray is a great narrator
Review: I have read almost every book P D James has written, and have always enjoyed reading about Adam Dagliesh and his methods to solving cases. So when I picked up this book, I thought it was another Dagliesh mystery. But it was actually narrated by Cordelia Gray who was introduced in An Unsuitable Job For A Woman. Cordelia is a somewhat inexperienced private detective who is wryly intelligent and humorously self-deprecating, a good contrast to Dagliesh who seems pompous and too tragic on occasion. Cordelia sort of flounders her way through some of the plot, but she is always entertaining. The other characters in this book are mostly interesting, though the murder victim is a bit too vapid to be believed. The setting of this book is the "mysterious castle" and James is excellent at creating suspense in this setting. James also keeps the reader trying to figure out who the murderer is up to the end of the book. A great read!

Rating:
Summary: My favorite P.D. James novel
Review: I've recently read a good deal of Baroness James' work, and found much to admire if not a lot to like. While clearly and intelligently written, her works all too often come perilously close to sinking under their own High Moral Weight, and, I am afraid, are very nearly humorless. Adam Dalgliesh's gloom can get rather oppressive, and I was often moved to suggest that he get some Prozac.

The Skull Beneath The Skin, however, is the exception to the rule. Dalgliesh is nowhere in sight. James brings her other creation to the forefront, a woman named Cordelia Gray, last seen in James' An Unsuitable Job For A Woman. Cordelia runs her own detective agency, and at the start of the novel is hired to protect a neurotic actress from a series of poison-pen letters during an upcoming amateur theatrical production to take place on a secluded island.

James seems to be taking on the classic murder mystery, complete with despicable victim, exotic locale, small number of suspects each equipped with a motive, and finally, a rather bizarre murder weapon. The story moves swiftly and entertainingly, the characters live on the page, and if the denouement is rather unsatisfying, well, I think that is very much the point that James is making. Those classic whodunits are not about life, they are more about creating a puzzle for the reader to solve. James, however, wants to make us think about the realities of her situations, and to see her characters as living people, not just as cardboard types. In this book she James takes the genre out for a ride, and manages to have some good mean fun with it.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite P.D. James novel
Review: I've recently read a good deal of Baroness James' work, and found much to admire if not a lot to like. While clearly and intelligently written, her works all too often come perilously close to sinking under their own High Moral Weight, and, I am afraid, are very nearly humorless. Adam Dalgliesh's gloom can get rather oppressive, and I was often moved to suggest that he get some Prozac.

The Skull Beneath The Skin, however, is the exception to the rule. Dalgliesh is nowhere in sight. James brings her other creation to the forefront, a woman named Cordelia Gray, last seen in James' An Unsuitable Job For A Woman. Cordelia runs her own detective agency, and at the start of the novel is hired to protect a neurotic actress from a series of poison-pen letters during an upcoming amateur theatrical production to take place on a secluded island.

James seems to be taking on the classic murder mystery, complete with despicable victim, exotic locale, small number of suspects each equipped with a motive, and finally, a rather bizarre murder weapon. The story moves swiftly and entertainingly, the characters live on the page, and if the denouement is rather unsatisfying, well, I think that is very much the point that James is making. Those classic whodunits are not about life, they are more about creating a puzzle for the reader to solve. James, however, wants to make us think about the realities of her situations, and to see her characters as living people, not just as cardboard types. In this book she James takes the genre out for a ride, and manages to have some good mean fun with it.

Rating:
Summary: The second Cordelia Gray mystery
Review: Reading the preceding novel, "An Unsuitable Job for a Woman," will give an introduction to the main character. Cordelia is now settled in, and taking cases as an independent private investigator in London. She is hired to investigate threatening letters being received by an actress. The initial chapters in the novel introduce the various characters involved in the story. They are brought together at a restored Victorian castle on an island, the main purpose being the appearance of the actress in a theatrical production.

The case becomes complex as different subplots wind together. Someone is guilty of murder, but who. All is not what it seems, as details of different relationships are revealed. The case does not actually come to an end. Cordelia learns the details of crimes, but can anything be proved in court? A guilty party has privately admitted guilt, tries to murder Cordelia, and challenges her to prove it. There the story ends.

This novel, published in 1982, would seem to lead into a sequel, but I have found no other novels by the author that deal with Cordelia.

Rating:
Summary: The second Cordelia Gray mystery
Review: Reading the preceding novel, "An Unsuitable Job for a Woman," will give an introduction to the main character. Cordelia is now settled in, and taking cases as an independent private investigator in London. She is hired to investigate threatening letters being received by an actress. The initial chapters in the novel introduce the various characters involved in the story. They are brought together at a restored Victorian castle on an island, the main purpose being the appearance of the actress in a theatrical production.

The case becomes complex as different subplots wind together. Someone is guilty of murder, but who. All is not what it seems, as details of different relationships are revealed. The case does not actually come to an end. Cordelia learns the details of crimes, but can anything be proved in court? A guilty party has privately admitted guilt, tries to murder Cordelia, and challenges her to prove it. There the story ends.

This novel, published in 1982, would seem to lead into a sequel, but I have found no other novels by the author that deal with Cordelia.

Rating:
Summary: Why does Baroness James hate women?
Review: Sad to say, "Skull Beneath the Skin" is another misogynistic scar on P.D. James's body of work, with a soulless, career-obsessed sex fiend who meets her well-deserved end. What is James's problem? She's a career woman, whether she likes it or not, but she seems to have a pathological hatred for career women who put out, unlike the saintly Emma. Perhaps she's just getting old. "Skull" has some of James's trademark character development and plotting skill, but even her gift for landscape falls short in this outing -- the island and its inhabitants never seem remotely believable. Try "Death in Holy Orders" for James without the nasty streak.

Rating:
Summary: Corking, thoughtful, beautifully characterised
Review: This was my second P. D. James novel (the first was A CertainJustice).. P. D. James is a remarkable writer who uses her greattalents to great effect in this novel which is on the one hand gripping, intricate and colorful and on the other hand sensible, thoughtful and feminine.

Cordelia Grey (I have not read "An unsuitable job for a woman") is of great interest as a woman detective created by a woman author. She is a mature young woman, confident and sensible, who shares with many of Muriel Spark, or of Penelope Fitzgerald's female characters, a refreshing ability to be a woman without apology or undue reference to men (other than obliquely to Dagleish, hinted at as a potential lover, and her late patner who had killed himself). Cordelia is thrown into a turbulent situation filled with men and women who see themselves through the eyes of men (women who are not mothers - or thwarted mothers, or step-mothers - who have unhealthy sex lives).

It is not my intention to say that this is a feminist tract. It is not. It is a ripping good novel which is also highly intelligent. But it achieves a power and a level of insight through its author's sophisticated understanding of gender roles and relations that puts it in a very high class among novels of manners...Given an odd situation there was a very great deal of realism and it is unjust to forbear from extending to a crime novelist - or indeed any novelist - the grace to set up an odd situation.

Rating:
Summary: Again, Cordelia Gray
Review: To the best of my knowledge, P.D. James only wrote two books about her young female detective Cordelia Gray. That's unfortunate, because I enjoyed both of them very much, especially this one. It has all of the "classic" elements of the British murder mystery: the castle, an island, an oddly assorted company, a butler, an interesting wealthy man, assorted relatives, and a grisly murder. Cordelia must sort out everything in the end, and even though the ultiumate outcome is somewhat in doubt, there's rarely a dull moment throughout this book. You follow Ms. Gray's progress avidly, and try to keep up with what's going on around her to gather your own clues about the murder. I'll admit that I was shocked at the resolution of the mystery, and that's one of the reasons I enjoyed the book so much. If you haven't read Ms. James, start with "An Unsuitable Job For A Woman", the first Cordelia Gray mystery, and then progress to this work. You won't be disappointed!