I can't believe I have never read PD James before now. Perhaps I wasn't ready, but wow can she write a suspenseful mystery! In the last year or so, I have become enamored of British mysteries. This may have something to do with enjoying Masterpiece Mystery on PBS as well as other BBC mysteries that are floating around Netflix. I just find the writing to be a little better, the narratives more twisted, and the characters more engaging.The Murder Room is number 12 in a series of novels centered around Adam Dalgleish; a poet, a detective, and a very private man. James masterfully takes her time in setting up the crime, and it took at least a hundred pages before anything major happens. I was most surprised by her eloquent use of language; most of her characters are well spoken, and her description of their habits and of the landscape around them made the book worth reading regardless of the mystery. The story may not be as modern or gritty as people may be used to when reading mystery, and I don't feel that it takes anything away from it. Sometimes its refreshing to read a book where cursing, sex, and graphic violence aren't what keeps the reader turning pages.
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