Rating: 
Summary: Quite good with a warning..
Review: There is so much to recommend about this mystery that I hesitate to mention any drawbacks. What I particularly loved about this particular book was the conflict between spiritual obedience and "baser" human temptations displayed by the inhabitants of St. Ansem's. The characters are vivid and the dialogue...well, you won't find better writing out there, for my money. In short, this book is topnotch. No character seems truly good nor purely evil. But there was still a major drawback for me with this one. It often seemed as though the focus on the spiritual concerns of those at St. Anselms often seemed to preclude the need for some dramatic tension - and I sorely missed it in this book. I hate it when the plot of a mystery is revealed beforehand but I will say that there are two major murders to be solved, including the death of an Archbishop and, of course, the murderer(s) and motive to be discovered. There's even romance afoot. Be forewarned, however, that this book may not be quite what you expect nor may it be as suspenseful and riveting as you'd prefer.
Rating: 
Summary: No Disappointment Here!
Review: I just finished the book. I really liked it. The storyline had a lot of different plots buried within plots. They were intriguing, and I could follow them! My only complaint, which is minor, would be that I sometimes had to flip back to refresh my memory on who a particular character was. I would suggest that you jot down everyone's names as you encounter them, with a brief description of their character. For example,there are about five priests alone,whose names all begin with "Father." I give this book "five stars" because it totally satisfied me. It is such a good English mystery!
Rating:
Summary: Back to the top of her form
Review: In the last twenty years or so, P. D. James's famed mystery novels have been less enjoyable than they were in previous decades: her characters seemed at times so misanthropic and snobbish as to be almost intolerable (as in A TASTE FOR DEATH), and her murderers often get away at the end scot-free (as in A CERTAIN JUSTICE and THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN), as if to endorse a somewhat dark--even Jacobean--vision of human existence. I'm happy to say that her latest effort, DEATH IN HOLY ORDERS, is a return to the top of her form. The setting, an isolated Anglican college on the East Anglian coast, seems very reminiscent of one of James's very best Dagliesh mysteries, THE BLACK TOWER, but otherwise the story is very much original, although it does dip (though not too indulgently) into some of the interests James has shown in almost all her novels, such as Victorian architecture, family hatreds, and art history. The community is an interesting one, the central murder is properly horrifying and dramatic, and best of all she allows her central detectives (Kate, Piers, and especially Dagliesh) more space to grow than they have in years. This Dagliesh mystery can stand with James's very best, including THE BLACK TOWER and A MIND TO MURDER.
Rating:
Summary: Another winner from PD James
Review: Death in Holy Orders is more subdued than A Certain Justice, but it is every bit a first rate mystery. A Certain Justice had an edginess to it to due to the disagreeable main character and the London locale. But Death in Holy Orders is true to its locale -- a remote high church monastary -- and to its plot line. It's a more subtle book, but every bit as enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: You're the top!
Review: With this her 17th book, P.D. James once again executes an admirable balancing act by combining, in her definition of a classic detective story, "a credible mystery with believable characters and a setting which both complements and integrates the action." The setting is East Anglia, one used by James in a number of her novels. It is here on the gloomy, windswept Suffolk coast, within yards of the North Sea, that we find St. Anselm's, a small theological college with only four resident priests and a student body that never exceeds twenty. St. Anselm's is described as High Church, probably Prayer Book Catholic, strong on theology, elitist, opposed to practically everything that's happened in Anglicanism in the past 50 years . . . and the food and wine are good. It is the action's locus, of which the reader is well aware long before Detective Inspector Kate Miskin observes, "So, it's going to be one of those self-contained cases with all the suspects under one roof . . ." In "Death in Holy Orders," James gives us an apparent suicide (Ronald Treeves, ordinand), a certified natural death (Margaret Munroe, employee), and a brutal murder (Archdeacon Crampton, guest and trustee). Commander Adam Dalgliesh, who is brought to St. Anselm's at the request of Ronald Treeves's influential father, is convinced that the three deaths are connected. The Treeves and Munroe deaths occur before his arrival, but the murder of the unpopular Archdeacon takes place during Dalgliesh's stay at the college. Upon viewing the body, he becomes angered and vows to lift the burden of his past failure ("A Certain Justice") by making an arrest in the present murder. Soon after, yet another death (murder or accident?) broadens the challenge. Dalgliesh's presence throughout much of the book will be well-received by his admirers, and James further indulges his fans with what appears to be the promise of a new romance. And she carts out a cast of typically Jamesian characters: diverse, some pleasingly off-center, and all believable. The assemblage of deaths imbues the story with an aura of mystery from start to finish, which is intensified by the superb setting. All things considered, "Death in Holy Orders" is P.D. James at the top of her classic detective story game.
Rating:
Summary: Veddy civilized and jolly good.
Review: This is a quintessentially British mystery, old-fashioned, and reminiscent in plot to Agatha Christie, with a murder and all the action taking place inside a closed community. One of the priests or ordinands within a small, remote, High Church seminary must have committed a murder, or two, or three. Commander Adam Dalgliesh, who spent several summers at St. Anselm's as a boy, returns to investigate the death of the young son of an extremely wealthy man, and in short order, additional deaths occur. A Rogier van der Weyden altarpiece, a treasure trove of ecclesiastical silver, Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and other priceless art objects owned by the about-to-be-closed seminary, provide a possible financial motive for murder, while an incestuous relationship, a secret marriage, a paralyzing fear of the future, and even pedophilia by a much-loved priest are among the psychological motives. Politeness and "civilized" behavior play a greater role here than they do in many, more "modern" mysteries. There is no graphic sex, no profanity, and no scenes of violence--just the effects of the violence. We see the priests and ordinands only within their circumscribed lives, and there are no scenes that suggest that any of them have any sense of humor or any real need for fun. Although James conveys enough psychological astuteness that her characters do not feel flat, there are at least eight or ten who could have committed the murder and for whom very substantial background information is given. The reader must follow all of them, along with an equally large number of red herrings, for four hundred pages before the plot is resolved, somewhat anticlimactically. That, combined with maddeningly detailed, physical descriptions of the rooms of the seminary, made this a four-star experience for me, rather than five-star.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary mystery
Review: I have always been a fan of mystery novels, and I really enjoy the British mysteries...because they have such a sense of literary style...they take their time and they develop their characters and situations to the ultimate. P. D. James is one of the best and her latest is one of her best. Her writing abilities are extraordinary, especially her descriptive powers: she makes us feel as if we were in this decaying and dying monastery. It was wonderful from start to finish. Hope she lives to be one hundred and does at least ten more!
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: I just finished this book after receiving it yesterday. It is a great read. I liked the way the characters didn't reveal everything at first questioning. They didn't volunteer information, but made the police investigators work. I think some of us don't understand this as we tend to talk too much. I was upset by reviewers, especially Publishers Weekly, who revealed additional murders. That spoiled it for me. I think reviews should be edited so none of the plot is given away for books like this. I believe the reference to leeks as mentioned in previous reviews was only important as far as they were wrapped in newspaper which made one of the characters remember something. I won't give anything away. I would recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: PD James is at her peak!
Review: Murder and religion, probably the two most mysterious things in literature are here in one book! Preists with deadly secrets, love, this book has it all! ...
Rating:
Summary: what about the leeks?
Review: Just finished my first P.D. James book, "Death in Holy Orders." Enjoyed it greatly. She is an extremely fine writer. The sympathy shown for priests who fondle small boys was repulsive. Perhaps that's how it's done in England. And what about the leeks? James never says how or why Mrs. Munroe (one of the murder victims) was reminded of the killer when she received a gift of leeks. Perhaps James likes to leave a bit of mystery unsolved.
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