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The Lighthouse: An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery
Unavailable
The Lighthouse: An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery
Unavailable
The Lighthouse: An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery
Audiobook12 hours

The Lighthouse: An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery

Written by P. D. James

Narrated by Charles Keating

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

A subtle and powerful work of contemporary fiction.

Combe Island off the Cornish coast has a bloodstained history of piracy and cruelty but now, privately owned, it offers respite to over-stressed men and women in positions of high authority who require privacy and guaranteed security. But the peace of Combe is violated when one of the distinguished visitors is bizarrely murdered.

Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called in to solve the mystery quickly and discreetly, but at a difficult time for him and his depleted team. Dalgliesh is uncertain about his future with Emma Lavenham, the woman he loves; Detective Inspector Kate Miskin has her own emotional problems; and the ambitious Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith is worried about working under Kate. Hardly has the team begun to unravel the complicated motives of the suspects than there is a second brutal killing, and the whole investigation is jeopardized when Dalgliesh is faced with a danger more insidious and as potentially fatal as murder.

This eagerly awaited successor to the international bestseller The Murder Room displays all the qualities that lovers of P. D. James's novels the world over have come to expect: sensitive characterization, an exciting and superbly structured plot and vivid evocation of place.


From the Hardcover edition.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 22, 2005
ISBN9780739323342
Unavailable
The Lighthouse: An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery
Author

P. D. James

P. D. James (1920–2014) was born in Oxford in 1920. She worked in the National Health Service and the Home Office From 1949 to 1968, in both the Police Department and Criminal Policy Department. All that experience was used in her novels. She won awards for crime writing in Britain, America, Italy, and Scandinavia, including the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award and the National Arts Club Medal of Honour for Literature. She received honorary degrees from seven British universities, was awarded an OBE in 1983 and was created a life peer in 1991.

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Reviews for The Lighthouse

Rating: 3.7166442467718794 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

697 ratings32 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    -- THE LIGHTHOUSE is a satisfying read. When a guest at an exclusive island compound is found dead three London police officers find out "who done it." A few guests have motives, & a few alibis are weak. After learning back stories, whereabouts, & capabilities murderer is revealed. Police officers are as interesting as the island's guests & staff members. Novel by P.D. James is sophisticated. It contains interesting details. --
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    3.5 I'd forgotten about this author and I'm looking forward to having a fairly new-to-me character to follow in a series. I have seen a couple of PBS/BBC mysteries based on her books, and those were good, too.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    P. D. James is a marvel. Added in 2016: Thirty years or so ago, I knew she was my favorite mystery writer. That was an amazingly good choice on my part. I've just reread this book, and recently re-read A Certain Justice. She is the greatest mystery writer of the 20th century.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I liked this book in that I hadn't a clue whodunnit until James told me so. There are plenty of twists and turns that keep one engrossed. It was a bit Agatha Christie (who I love) in that they'd be a murder and then they'd all sit down together for tea. Some of the description (such as what they were eating) became slightly distracting. However, she is a master of plot and most of the description, like that of the island, is highly original. Her characters are also believable and interesting, especially the young homeless girl, but I'll spill no more beans! I recommend this book to people who like traditional detective stories.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I must have missed something because I wasn't sure I followed the solution to this mystery. Its been awhile since I have read a PD James book and I didn't really enjoy this one.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    When a famous and unpleasant author is found hanging by rope from the top of a lighthouse on an isolated island retreat, Dalgliesh and two detectives are sent to determine if it was suicide or murder. When another death occurs that is definitely murder, finding the suspect from the limited possibilities on the island is complicated when Dalgliesh contracts SARS,
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I picked this up because I can't take any more crime books that are full of brutal murders and torture. And I guess this did fit the bill - very old style Agatha Christie with all the characters stuck on an island with a mix of rich people, servants and a priest. And it had a lighthouse for my lighthouse theme. Did have some brutal murders and a lot of torture of characters by their parents (mostly historical) but as the characters were all pretty wooden (and a lot of them rich) it didn't get under the skin.
    I passed it on to John who is grateful for something really unchallenging. Sends him to sleep within minutes!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I keep picking up PD James, thinking that the books can't be as unsatisfying as I remember. PD James is lauded for her intricate plotting and her impressive ability to channel her personal experiences in the Home Office to create a realistic portrait of a police investigation. But, as always, I simply rediscover that I underestimated just how much I dislike these books.

    At the end of a PDJ novel, including this one, I find that I hate all the characters. Each character dying off is almost a relief. I am left with the feeling, as Agatha Christie would put it, that they are all "nasty people". I always feel soiled after reading a PDJ novel. The people involved are so awful, so corrupt, so cold, so conscienceless, including PDJ's darling detective, Adam Dalgliesh. Dalgliesh is slightly reminiscent of Javert from Les Mis, but without Javert's redeeming qualities; he is truly an awful human being, so much so that she sticks on the artificial appellation of poet to his character, like one of those facades added to add architecture to those boxlike government buildings. Dalgliesh is conscienceless, he is cruel to the victims to get information, and he is unfeeling to his detectives, playing them off against each other to further his cause. It is fine for a character to be flawed, but clearly, PDJ takes no issue with this; she applauds him. I hate the fact that he is involved with a woman who has no connection with his life and is upper-class. PDJ has her paper-cut-out racial/class-issue characters, but they don't feel like real people to me--just talking stereotypes.

    I guess, honestly, what irks me most about PDJ isn't her books; it's her comments about other members of her genre. Like Raymond Chandler before her, PDJ takes pot shots at Agatha Christie, calling her simplistic and fantastic. Yet, in every novel I have EVER read by PD James, (and I've made it through at least 10) she always resorts to a MURDERER's CONFESSION. In at least 3 cases that I recall off-hand, for some unknown reason, the murderer literally taped a confession on audiocassettes and sent it to Dalgiesh posthumously. Seriously???!!! That in itself is unforgivable; yet even worse is the fact that PDJ criticizes Christie as simplistic and contrived. AC's crimes at least can be solved without forcing a murderer's posthumous confession. Whereas in an AC, I find I really like all of the characters; caricatures though they may be, they are human enough to breathe and live and be uncertain in nature. The suspense in Agatha Christie's books comes from us not wanting to sacrifice the characters we have grown to love, while still unwillingly seeing that they are capable of murder. AC may be xenophobic and racist and classist and sexist, but her characters still breathe.

    The Lighthouse continues in the same vein as the previous stories. Dalgliesh and his lady love are cold and uninvolved. Kate, the lower-class cutout, is still sympathetic and pining for her boss. The mystery itself is interesting, but the conclusion felt forced and utilizes (wait for it) a murderer's confession. Not my type of story, but I concede that if I were not so heavily biased about the Agatha Christie issue and did not find the characters so unsympathetic, I could appreciate the lyrical language and intellectual mystery.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5

    On a remote island off the coast of Southwest England, used as a getaway by the influential, the famous novelist Nathan Oliver is found one morning murdered -- hanged from the topmost railing of the island's fastidiously restored lighthouse. Since there were fewer than a dozen people on the island at the time, and since it's unlikely anyone could have come ashore secretly, the task of solving the murder would seem a simple one for Alan Dalglish and his crew. Yet lots of old coals have to be raked over, and a great deal of James's cumbersome prose negotiated, before the fairly unsurprising solution is revealed. There's plenty of clumsy dialogue, too, of the "You know all this already but I'm going to tell it to you anyway" variety. Aside from a rock-climbing sequence that's genuinely suspenseful, events just sort of . . . lumber on. Even so, the book's moderately enjoyable; just a shame that all the time I was reading it I was thinking it could have been done far better at half the length.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Clever as you would expect in the construction of the plot, and equally clever to manage to write a detective story set in the first decade of the 21st century that includes a butler, a housekeeper, a cook, a maid and a boatman in its cast of characters without it seeming totally implausible. And a Defrocked Clergyman and an Old Family Solicitor, to boot. The setting on This-Is-Not-Lundy makes a change from fictitious East-Anglian headlands, but not a very big change.The actual detection process this time is a bit Maigret-like: Dalgleish does nothing in particular for the first three hundred pages except listen to the suspects, then wakes up in his sickbed with a flash of psychological insight, knowing who did it. A pity: I was rather hoping one of the sidekicks would be allowed to solve the mystery whilst the boss was out of action...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Set on a fictional island off the English coast, Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate a murder. And while there, another one. Untangling the threads of enmity that most of those on the island held against the first victim finally leads to solving both cases. This was my first Adam Dalgliesh mystery. Though apparently a title that’s near the end of the series, I felt that it stood well enough on its own and I enjoyed it that way.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The first half drags ridiculously, but the last half is decent. I think I'm going to give up these though.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    After watching (and liking) the Adam Dalgliesh shows on PBS, I am pleased that my first PD James book did not disappoint.

    The book had characters and situations that were obviously a continuance from previous books, but it stood on its own very well. The mystery was good, the characters "comfortable" and the writing was, at times, almost poetic.

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In the The Lighthouse, there has been a murder on an island that is the refuge of the rich and powerful, a shocking event to the citizens. Detective Dagliesh and his team are called in to investigate the sensitive murder. Much of the book focuses on the relationships of the characters - between Dagliesh and his girlfriend Emma, as well as Sergeant Benton and his boss. The actual mystery seems to be only in the background. As Dagliesh and his team investigate the murders, a reclusive best selling author figures prominently into it. The mystery itself is a bit lackluster. James seems to have put more time in character development than the plot, which suffers as a result. As a result this is a fairly pedestrian mystery. It's not a bad read, but one that is imminently forgettable.Carl Alves - author of Blood Street
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    What a classic set-up for a British murder mystery. A lonely, nearly inaccessible island with a small number of inhabitants, many of whom hate the victim, for good reason. The murder brings Adam Dalgliesh and his team to the island to find the culprit. Ever since I read Christie's "Ten Little Indians" many years ago I've loved this sort of mystery, and P.D. James does the genre proud. As always in a good mystery, the culprit is not the person the reader suspects. James' strength, I've always felt, was the precision and elegance of her language. Her characterizations, except for recurring characters, are often one-dimensional, but her dialogue is excellent."The Lighthouse" is a perfect read for a stormy winter night, one of James' best recent efforts.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A sensitive case for Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his two-person team, DI Kate Miskin and Sergeant Francis Benton; they are called to a remote Cornish island used as a secure and private retreat for notable and hounded people in the public eye, when a famous novelist is found hanged from the lighthouse. P. D. James is a gifted crime writer, who handles the pacing of a mystery well, and doesn’t let character fall down while building her narrative; in fact, she pays more attention to her characters, peripheral as well as recurring or leading, than most crime writers I’ve read. A great example is the victim, whose detestable personality is layered with a convincingly-established sympathy for the writing to which he was absolutely dedicated. The Lighthouse, the thirteenth book featuring Adam Dalgliesh, left me in no doubt as to the Commander’s personality, or that of his two colleagues, nor were any of the suspects anything but properly fleshed-out individuals. I love picking up a novel where the mystery is the point, and finding that the attention to detail is as sound in every other aspect. James also creates fabulous atmosphere.This isn’t the most gripping crime fiction novel I’ve ever read, but this author always delivers something above the norm. For me it’s the standard of writing that keeps me coming back; what she contributes to the genre is crime literature, rather than crime fiction.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I decided to read all of the Adam Daigliesh mysteries in one fell swoop and am glad I did. First, they are classic British mysteries all well-deserving of the respect P.D. James has earned for them and all are a good read. However, what is interesting is to watch the author develop her style from the early ones to the later ones. And, in fact, A Shroud for a Nightingale and The Black Tower (the fourth and fifth in the series) is where she crosses the divide. The later books have much more character development -- both for the players and the detectives -- make Dalgleish more rounded and are generally much more than a good mystery yarn -- they're fine novels that happen to be mysteries. The first three books (Cover Her Face, A Mind to Murder, Unnatural Causes) are just that much more simplistic. But read any or all -- she's a great writer and they are definitely worth the time.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Slow paced, but well written.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A wonderful book. The atmosphere created by the author's amazing attention to detail absolutely puts you on the island. Another James book that I keep re-reading long after I know very well "who done it."
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The first third of this book is back story, backgrounds of the detectives, the suspects and even the murder victim, after it settles into the usual template of the mystery, interviewing of suspect, new clues, another murder, and the last two hundred pages or so are pretty good.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If you don't examine it too close, an excellent mystery. Even if you do, definitely worth the read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Murder. Motive? Is it financial gain, professional ruin, or family vengeance? I honestly can't remember at this point. It usually seems to be the case with Baroness James' work, though, that if there's some obscure family relationship lurking beneath the surface, then there's your solution.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is my favorite P.D. James novel yet. I enjoyed the island setting, the characters were interesting, Kate came into her own and wasn't whiny, Benton-Smith was nice to read about, and the mystery was one which I could not solve. I had bits and pieces, but I couldn't bring them together, so that made me happy. Oh, and Dalgliesh finally gets on with his life.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The classic whodunit situation; a group of people trapped on an island - and one of them is a murderer! In these days of instant communication and more forms of transport than I would care to shake a stick at, it takes an outbreak of SARS to create the required conditions.The story is simple, well told and, like all the best examples of the genre, leaves me feeling that I really should have worked it out much earlier: the clues were there.I thoroughly enjoyed this book and, as an aside, it is good to see that P D James does not subscribe to this 'realism' which means that her detective must become old and decrepit. I do not read this sort of book for realism, I want my detectives at the peak of their power; and I don't care if it is ten, twenty, thirty or more years that they have so been!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I've been reading this whilst staying on Lundy Island which must surely have been the inspiration for Combe. (There was even a copy of it on the bookshelf in the cottage where we stayed) The use made of the island is different and she has also given her west coast east coast characteristics, but the atmosphere of a quiet retreat from modern life is just the same, as is the ability to hide yourself away from everybody else. Her description of a rock climb would also ring true with the climbers you find there. So i found it a bit more atmospheric than the average country house murder, though I agree that is the genre to which it belongs.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    good old fashioned whodunit
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Some have said this one is not as good as her classics like "Devices and Desires". However I enjoyed it very much. I like the prologue and epilogue that tell more of the personal stories of the main characters, including Dalgleish's love for Emma Lavenham, and Kate Miskin's mixed emotions. The mystery itself takes quite a while to get going, follows the steps of investigating a suspicious death until it is finally proven to be murder. Around page 380 it gets more exciting with a second murder, and then a SARS crisis. The crime mystery is solved rather abruptly, but the capture of the villain is very exciting, and the ending is quite satisfying. A good read, and still far better than most mysteries. Recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another solid offering from P D James. A better-than-average group of suspects, an odd and appropriately eerie setting, and a return to a very traditional, almost 'locked room' plot. Yes, there's some recycling going on here -- what do you know; it's a crime on an isolated island/isthmus/penisula -- but James is still razor sharp in her observations on human nature, and her language is as elegant as ever. Treasure her while she's still writing!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I’ll admit the first book I read by P.D. James was The Murder Room. Even then, I didn’t read it, I listened to the unabridged audiobook. I tried to read it, but it kept putting me to sleep. When I listened to it, I was right there, involved and interested. So, when Lighthouse came out, I checked it out and tried to read it. Alas, I had to give up and turn back to the audiobook. I don’t know why, but I just can’t read James’ books. Nothing against her writing, I think it’s superb. Perhaps because it’s so descriptive, and that I read too fast, it’s easy for me to miss things, and therefore loose interest. Regardless, I did “read” Lighthouse, and it was the unabridged audiobook, so I “read” it in it’s entirety.There’s nothing critical I can say about James’ book. The characters are all strongly developed, even those that are murdered. We feel true righteous anger at the first murder, because the character was painted so perfectly as a manipulative jerk. We feel true sorrow at the second murder because the victim was perfectly painted as a sympathetic creature. The book moves along slowly, allowing the reader to sink into the roles of the characters, to learn their secrets. The only place the book picks up in speed is when they are chasing the murderer up towards the lighthouse itself.The basic plot structure is one that has been used for ages. A group of people are cut-off from the rest of the world, and one is found murdered. The detective (in this case Dalgliesh) is faced with a limited number of suspects from the beginning. The reason for the isolation is geography. Everyone is on an island retreat. Later, the reason for the isolation is medical. SARS has broken out and everyone is placed under quarantine. In fact, there are several very tense moments when the reader seriously wonders whether certain characters will survive to the end of the book, because of the illness.If you like modern English murder mysteries, this book is definitely for you. Enjoy it with a good cup of hot tea and a crumpet.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another fabulous Dalgliesh mystery. A very traditional whodunnit. The murder victim is a nasty piece of work. Multiple suspects, multiple motives, closed environment. I really enjoy the build-up and the solving of the puzzle. James is in complete control here and, also, having a bit of fun. The nasty piece of work is a successful author!