Very well written. A nice slow burn with lots of twists and turns along the way. I appreciate the many-layered character of Adam Dalgliesh much more now than when I first read him. And I appreciate that PD James was able to establish a large cast of characters that I was able to keep straight thanks to her deft handling of them. Written in 1963, the book feels like it was written in a more recent decade. This is not your old-fashioned Agatha Christie cozy, but a richer, more nuanced work. I enjoyed it. ( )

Another PD James re-read. Her second Dalgliesh book, set in a psychiatric clinic - James worked in hospital administration from 1949 to 1968 and her knowledge of the system and the politics of a clinic shines in this work. However again I find her writing somewhat clinical and humourless, the people are nearly all presented as unpleasant and unhappy, (except perhaps for the minor but significant character of Mrs Fenton and maybe also Tigger the cat). There is an interesting twist at the very end which I had forgotten from my previous reads. Dalgliesh is much more involved than in "Cover her Face" and his personality begins to emerge, sensitive, private, a published poet, implacable and self critical. I think I may take a break from James as I do find her depressing after my Christie re-reads.

En la clínica Steen, un centro psiquiátrico para pacientes acaudalados que saben apreciar tanto los buenos cuidados médicos como la discreción, se produce el asesinato de la administradora. La señora Bolam, cuyo carácter reservado y el exceso de celo en su trabajo le habían hecho ganarse las antipatías del personal del centro, aparece muerta en el archivo de historiales clínicos, tumbada en el suelo, con un cincel clavado en el corazón con precisión quirúrgica, y una talla de madera perteneciente a uno de los enfermos entre los brazos. Adam Dalgliesh será el encargado de recorrer el tortuoso laberinto de recelos, secretos, chantajes y otros misterios, en el que se hallan involucrados el personal y los pacientes, entre los que forzosamente se encuentra el asesino.

Overlong, overwrought, and not very logical investigation into a murder at a medical clinic. The investigation is plodding, and there is way too much explanation required. And far too much information about the National Health Service. Not recommended in the least. The audiobook is well performed, however. ( )

Killer Clinic
Review of the Vintage Canada paperback edition (2011) of the Faber & Faber hardcover original (1963)

At the other end of the square, Superintendent* Adam Dalgliesh of the Criminal Investigation Department was attending the ritual autumn sherry party given by his publishers which had coincided with the third reprint of his first book of verse. He didn't overestimate his talent or the success of his book. The poems, which reflected his detached, ironic and fundamentally restless spirit, had happened to catch a public mood. He did not believe that more than half a dozen would live even in his own affections. Meanwhile he found himself awash on the shallows of an unfamiliar sea in which agents, royalties and reviews were agreeable hazards. And now there was this party.

I started a binge re-read of the early P.D. James Adam Dalgliesh novels when I recently discovered my 1980's Sphere Books paperbacks while clearing a storage locker. After finishing Cover Her Face (Adam Dalgliesh #1 - 1962) I realized that I did not have a copy of A Mind to Murder, the next entry in the series. Fortunately I was able to source a nice copy of the 2011 Vintage Canada paperback.

Cover Her Face held back quite a bit on introducing Adam Dalgliesh and did not even mention his being a poet. A Mind to Murder brings him on-site almost immediately, only part-way into Chapter One when he is called away from a party at his publishers to a nearby murder scene at the Steen Clinic, an exclusive psychiatric treatment centre. The Chief Administrator has been found murdered in a basement file room and there are multiple suspects, including the doctors, nurses, secretaries and custodians.

P.D. James adopts a trademark style of revealing quite a lot about the inner lives of the suspect characters through inner monologues & scenes without the investigators, including the various possible murder motives that they might have. It seems fairly evident early on that one individual is the wrong 'un of the pack, but James manages to keep you guessing throughout, and then even pulls out a complete surprise at the very end, even to the point of fooling her lead detective.

I'm quite enjoying getting reacquainted with P.D. James and Adam Dalgliesh and look forward to the next books in the series.

See cover image at https://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/84/4d/844ddd882badf015931346158674443...
Cover of the Sphere Books paperback edition (1985). Image sourced from Library Thing.

Trivia and Links
* In Cover Her Face, Adam Dalgliesh was a Detective Chief Inspector. In Books 2 to 4 he is a Detective Superintendent and then in Books 5 to 14 he is a Detective Commander.

A Mind to Murder was adapted for television in 1995 as part of the long running Dalgliesh TV-series for Anglia Television/ITV (1983-1998) starring actor Roy Marsden as Chief Detective Inspector Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard. You can watch the entire episode of the 1995 adaptation on YouTube here. NOTE: The adaptation differs considerably from the original novel.

The new Acorn TV-series reboot Dalgliesh (2021-?) starring Bertie Carver as Adam Dalgliesh has not yet done an adaptation of A Mind to Murder. It has not been announced which books are being adapted for Season 2 (as of early July 2022). Season 1 adapted Books 4, 5 & 7. ( )