Rating: 
Summary: Absorbing story and characters
Review: I find P.D. James to be one of the best British mystery writers I've ever read. Her characters are deep and realistic. And she is skilled at describing human weakness in subtle ways as she weaves her stories.Death in Holy Orders is a very satisfying read, especially if you enjoy James' detective, Adam Dalgliesh. Dalgliesh is an intriguing character because we get glimpses of his well-hidden emotion and humanity, but never enough information to let us know him well. This is consistent with Dalgliesh as a character since he is extremely private and a mystery to most of his subordinates throughout James' Dalgliesh series. I was especially pleased that James chose to allow Dalgliesh to move forward in himself in this book. It will be interesting to see how he changes now that he has chosen to open himself and his life to the possibility of love. If you've never read P.D. James before, start at the beginning! She's good and gets even better as she goes.
Rating:
Summary: A Gem
Review: When Commander Adam Dalgliesh agreed to re-examine the death of an Anglican theological colleage student, he believed it would be a simple and straightforward task. His arrival to St Anselm was complicated by a number of visitors who were also there for the weekend. Each of the visitors had his own agenda and when murder was committed barely fifty yards away from where Dalgliesh was staying, he was determined that the murderer should not get away. It would however, require all Dalgliesh¡¦s intelligence to not only uncover the murderer, but also to obtain sufficient evidence to convict him. As usual, P D James¡¦ novel is a pleasure to read. Very rarely do detective stories provide the thrill to keep the reader¡¦s heart pumping, the mystery to keep his curiosity alive till the last page, but also wonderful insights into each characters. In simple words, her novels are never shallow. Enjoyment from her novel is never derived from skimping through the pages, but from drinking in each sentence slowly. And it never hurts that Adam Dalgliesh has remained such a charismatic character all along.
Rating: 
Summary: An entertaining read
Review: Detective fiction is not a genre that I read very much. However, the publicity that this book received and the fact that I have been to theological college myself made me decide to give it a shot. James has obviously researched her material well. Questions of theology are handled relatively astutely. While she writes in a note at the beginning that the characters are not based on anyone, she obviously has a good knowledge of human character and applies this in an interesting way to those in her book. Having said that, it is a bit sad that she feels the need to say that she doesn't want to discourage candidates for ministry training or visitors to theological colleges. If such people really cannot tell the difference between real life and detective fiction then something seems wrong with our world. It was only relatively late in the story that I figured out who the murderer would be, which is a sign that the writer has not made things so obvious that the book is not worth reading (although it could just have been my unfamiliarity with this genre). At the same time, once the murderer was revealed there were clues that one could look back on, so it didn't feel that James has just picked an unlikely candidate in order to keep it a mystery. This was a fun read but not, ultimately, one that would make me want to read many similar books. For it's explorations of character and the exploration of an unusual setting I would recommend it as something worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Murder & the Church of England
Review: I picked up this paperback based largely on the title -- and PD James's excellent reputation as a writer of literate crime novels. But my main interest was in the setting: a "high church" seminary on the coast of England. I'm interested in matters of religion and particularly the tension between high and low church teachings and practices in the Church of England and the Episcopal Church of the USA. I found the mystery itself quite compelling. The plot proved complex enough without resorting to sometimes laughable complexities for novelty's sake. This was my first Dalgliesh novel, but I found the character decently enough described so as to be able to enjoy reading about him. The ecclesiastical aspects of the story proved very interesting. James uses the high church-low church matrix to place her characters and their religious politics in finly drawn relation to each other, Church history, and contemporary events. And though I don't expect to find many others like me in this regard; I enjoyed reading about religion and religious people in a non-religious context. Ecclesiology can be fun (really!) but ecclesiastical murder is more fun! Since reading "A Death in Holy Orders" I am now reading my way -- backwards -- through the entire Adam Dalgleish series. And I'm enjoying it immensely. And James has got me back on to Trollope. In a passage in "Holy Orders" a chapter of "Barchester Towers" is read aloud -- to great effect. As I read my way backwards through Dalgleish, I'm reading my way (forwards) through Trollope's excellent "Chronicle of Barsetshire" novels, beginning with "The Warden." Thanks Baroness James for returning me to those excellent, less gorey, but much funnier Victorian novels about life in and around the Church of England.
Rating:
Summary: another excellent book
Review: although sometimes her books can ramble on a bit, and the writing be a bit too wordy, this one has found the perfect balance. The writing is somewhat less...intellectual, that some of her other books, and this, if anything, makes the book even better. The plot is a cracker, and she writes it in such a way that it is strikingly realistic (as are all her books). The characters are likeable, and well developed, and there are twists aplenty to be had. Its great to learn a little more about AD's past, and even see a glimmer of romance on the horizon for him. Overall, this is an incredibly good detective novel. The plot is great, the solution satisfactory. The writing is absolutely first class. a wonderful cast of characters, and an excellent setting packed with atmosphere. Very well done. It still does not quite top "Original Sin" as my favourite P.D. James book, but it is about on a par with "A Certain Justice" as my second.
Rating:
Summary: Well written but not her best
Review: "Death In Holy Orders" bears all of P D James' trademarks. It is well written. Its subject is meticulously researched so that every detail of the religious life she writes about corresponds with reality. Her characters are, as always, mostly of the sour, dour, hard bitten and cynical variety and clearly a breed apart from the cartoonish types that populate Agatha Christie's stories. As readers, we relate to them because we can almost pick them out from the people we know in our lives. Even our favourite detective hero, Adam Dagliesh, harbours secrets from the past and has a slight hint of romance and sexiness to him that appeals to female readers. True to form, James is unstinting in creating the right atmosphere for the plot to develop. There are even the usual proven Jamesian flourishes like a sudden recollection of some minor connection with the past that proves fatal etc, which makes the story a real page turner. The let down for me was in the anticlimactic ending. The denouement was disappointing because it just wasn't up to her usual "dark" standards. I was frankly underwhelmed. Never mind. Better plotting the next time and there will always be a next time for me because P D James is my all time favourite detective mystery writer. A respectable if not outstanding work.
Rating:
Summary: P.D. James is Master Novelist!
Review: As if we needed any further proof of this. Her detective novels are arguably the best on the shelves. She not only writes a good mystery, but her character depiction is flawless. There are many who attempt to write in this genre and to rival her, but none come close. In this book she depicts a much softer Dagleish than we're used to seeing. That probably has something to do with age. Also, her depiction of the East Anglian region is wonderfully detailed. The book carries the reader along in almost a dreamlike state, and then we're confronted with a horrifying murder that certainly serves to bring us back to earth. As the mystery unfolds, we find we're again drawn into the story. Ms. James leads us along her chosen path right up the the final paragraph. She is simply great, and that's all there is to say about it.
Rating:
Summary: Another deep, melancholy novel from P.D. James
Review: P.D. James has a great skill at writing mysteries in a very compelling way. Modern American writers in this genre tend to be very bland, but James' sense of tradition and Anglicanism adds a wonderful flavor to her novels. Dalgliesh's background in theology is a great backdrop to this work. It's just too bad that James has emphasize the evil character of some of the suspects. Some of the immorality could have been left to the imagination.
Rating: 
Summary: More Ho-Hum Than Holy
Review: I've read all of Dame James's Dalgliesh books and must say that I've found this the least interesting. The writing, as always, is wonderful, but the actual mystery is not. The bodies pile up, but so do the coincidences and unlikely twists. And why reveal the culprit so far in advance of the ending? I kept waiting for a final twist that never came. Not in any way a good intro to James.
Rating:
Summary: Message To AD: Keep Taking Me Away!
Review: While Death In Holy Orders may lack the acidity and richness of A Certain Justice, it compensates immeasurably with the quality of transporting the reader to a fine far-flung locale. P.D. James has given us one of the best escapes from one's own troubles in exchange for murder and the charm and desolation of the religious community depicted in the novel. Yes, I read the Black Tower and am perfectly happy that P.D. James has returned for a encore engagement among the holy orders. She does it well, so well, in fact, that I didn't want the novel to end any more than I wanted to see St. Anselm's face its shaky future. Only the best writers can make it possible for us to care about an institution and inhabitants that exist only on the pages of a book. In reading the long list of reviews below, it is with the greatest of humility that I must confess that the murderer was a complete surprise to me. But then, they usually always are (even in the most unchallenging mystery novels). However, I don't read P.D. James for the quality of how confounding the mystery, how clever the murderer, or how relentlessly the top-notch team of Adam Dalgliesh, Kate, and Piers pursue their quarry. It is strictly for the quality of her writing and characterizations, qualities that seem to hold up best within the framework of detective fiction, that keeps me coming back each time, excited to start the novel and sad to leave it. My first P.D. James novel was Innocent Blood, a non-AD masterpiece. Yet, it was years before I ever gave Adam Dalgliesh a chance. If the reader could start with any of P.D. James earlier works, it would be advisable if, for no other reason, than you will likely be a dyed-in-the-wool fan by the time you get to the later novels and have a far greater appreciation of the maturity of the major characters.
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