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: unsuitable book for a woman
Review: I have read P.D. James before and enjoyed those books. However, this book and it's predecessor were immensely unrealistic. Cordelia Gray starts out in each book to be a woman of substance, but through a series of inaction and self- doubt, in both cases she fails to catch the murderer. She becomes too vapid and whiney for my taste and not a heroine at all. She even carries a trophy of sorts from the first book to the second, completely unbelievable that anyone so fraught with emotion could maintain enough detachment to make a good detective. The female characters are variations of real life personalities, but seem to share no connection (despite the author trying to make us believe they do) to each other or even the plot. The male characters are portraits of stereotypic nonsense, cardboard cut-outs of what would be expected from a male if one never shared a planet with one. Unlike Agatha Christie the plots seem to thicken and stall. I would sugest to the readers that the female protagonist is not something Ms. James feels comfortable with or is very good at producing. She instead makes you want to slap her back to reality and tell her to find another job. The ending is probably the most realistic thing for this character to hope for ...a glorified job finding lost cats!
Rating: 
Summary: P.D. James makes an unwelcome departure
Review: Cordelia Gray, the brave and endearing young private investigator who made her debut in P.D. James' AN UNSUITABLE JOB FOR A WOMAN, returns in the author's eighth whodunit, THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN. The title's from Webster, and it's a fitting one; the story literally reeks of the theater. Clarissa Lisle is a bitchy, fading actress determined to salvage her career as the star of an amateur production of Webster's "The Duchess of Malfi," staged in a restored Victorian theater on Courcy Island, just off the coast of Dorset. Lisle has been receiving mysterious poison-pen letters, death notes in the form of quotations from Shakespeare and Webster, and has hired Cordelia to discover their source. The castle on Courcy Island becomes the stage for a tense gathering of Clarissa's friends, relatives, and guests--each of whom, we learn, has excellent motive for killing the actress. When the death does inevitably occur, Cordelia finds herself left with a case of murder that she fully intends to--and does--unravel.THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN may be the most stylish, lavishly mounted novel that James has written. It's an overflowing mixture of the elements of the detective/horror tale at its most clichéd--the closed circle of suspects in a Victorian castle on a small island serviced by a spooky, tight-lipped butler and his wife, a crypt filled with skulls, a collection of memorabilia from past murders, frightening knick-knacks in the shapes of human appendages...it's all gloriously entertaining, never for a minute even coming close to realism. And therein lies the fatal flaw of the novel. P.D. James' novels are seldom been anything but realistic, but she seems to have broken the rule in THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN. The Gothic horror, portrayed in a darkly comic manner, clashes painfully with her finely drawn, introspective characters (except Clarissa Lisle, one of the few two-dimensional stereotypes who pop up in James' fiction) and flawlessly crafted prose. It's as if she's written two completely different novels, one a brilliant character study, the other a conventional ghost story, and meshed them together with little regard for the coherence of the result. Until now, James has done a marvelous job proving that the English mystery can make an extraordinarily fine mainstream novel; unfortunately, she's also shown that the magic combination can work only when her settings are serious and controlled. THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN is not serious. It's not too far from out-and-out comedy, and James' admirable but vain attempts to weave her fantastic set pieces and excessively necrophilic atmosphere into a profound work of fiction makes it even more funny. Not that most readers will care. This is still an absorbing entertainment--substantial, cunningly plotted, and beautifully written. More discriminating readers will conclude that either THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN is a parody written by a skilled impersonator, or P.D. James has seen one Dracula movie too many.
Rating: 
Summary: Why not buy two copies?
Review: I first read "The Skull Beneath the Skin" eleven years ago and, after more than a few re-readings, have had to purchase a second copy. (Yes, it's that good!) In the sequel to "An Unsuitable Job for a Woman" (which probably should be read first), Cordelia Gray is still struggling to maintain her detective agency. In some ways, she has attained a greater measure of independence (she now has her own flat and even has a couple of employees), but in some ways she is more self-doubting than ever (is finding lost pets really a worthy endeavor for a detective agency?). "The Skull Beneath the Skin" probably isn't the best of P.D. James's works from a novelistic standpoint (her subsequent works, such as "A Taste for Death" and "A Certain Justice" explore deeper themes), but it remains my favorite of her books because the juxtaposition of country-house (well, Victorian castle) murder and Gothic horror is simply great entertainment. The characters are profoundly sympathetic and well-delineated, and the conclusion is both affecting and disturbing.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible
Review: I had to read this book for my high school summer reading. It was one of the worst books i have ever read. Everytime I sat down to read it i fell asleep. When the end finally came i was very dissapointed because nothing happened. Clarissa died and everyone left the island, nobody was convicted of her murder. Pointless and terrible.
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.
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