Saturday, November 6, 2021

The Mistletoe Murder: And Other Stories


Book: The Mistletoe Murder: And Other Stories
Basic Information : Synopsis : Expectations : Thoughts : Evaluation : Book Group : New Words : Book References : Good Quotes : Table of Contents : References

Basic Information:

Author: PD James

Edition: ePub on Libby from the San Francisco Public Library

Publisher: Vintage

ISBN: 9781101973806 (ISBN10: 1101973803)

Start Date: November 4, 2021

Read Date: November 6, 2021

160 pages

Genre: Fiction, Short Stories, Book Group

Language Warning: None

Rated Overall: 4 out of 5



Fiction-Tells a good story: 4 out of 5

Fiction-Character development: 3 out of 5


Synopsis:

Four stories of murders and mysteries with a Forward written by Val MacDermid and a Prelude by PD James. The mysteries are centered around Christmas time. Two are Adam Dalgliesh stories. All are short.



Expectations:

Date Became Aware of Book: October 31, 2019

How come do I want to read this book: It is written by PD James

What do I think I will get out of it? A set of very tight mysteries


Thoughts:

Because these are mysteries, I do not intend to reveal the mystery part of the book, and hopefully not the plots either. Just the parts which interest me.



Foreward

A page and a half overview of PD James

Her stories are always very specifically located in terms both of time and place



Preface




The Mistletoe Murder

This short story is writen up as a first person account with the question: have you ever been involved with a murder? She takes us back to Christmas, 1940. She is recently widowed because of the War and is invited to her her grandmother’s house for Christmas. Bereavement is like a serious illness. One dies or one survives, and the medicine is time, not a change of scene.


Two other guests were going to be there: her cousin Paul and a distant relative who came to evaluate certain antique items at the manor. The name was Rowland Maybrick.


As the Prelude chapter said, James is a master (mistress?) of creating an image of a place. She writes about the first view of her grandmother’s place: But one image is clear and magical, my first sight of Stutleigh Manor. It loomed up out of the darkness, a stark shape against a grey sky pierced with a few high stars. And then the moon moved from behind a cloud and the house was revealed; beauty, symmetry and mystery bathed in white light.


The author did not like Rowland:I suspected that, given half a chance, he would have pawed me and assessed my second-hand value.


Clues are given, not so much about the murder, but that something is afoot.


Dame Agatha’s Mayhem Parva-What is this? Parva means little, so this would notate little damage or murder.


As an author, she is thinking of all the different plots as the police question them. The author walks through how the murder takes place in her mind, In imagination I walked in the footsteps of a murderer. I liked this sentence. It really made me feel the author. This murder helped her become an author.


In a conversation with herself, she notes that in World War II, when this was taking place, people were dying all the time. So if this distant relation who was somewhat obnoxious was to die, should she ignore it? But she comes to the conclusion that Murder should never be excused or condoned.



A Very Commonplace Murder

A man comes back to look at a place after 16 years ago. Why, you might ask. He witnessed the meeting of a married woman and a man who is not her husband for several weeks until they came no more.


Talks about the thoughts about reporting to the police what he witnessed. Then the delaying because he did not want to get involved or the ramifications to himself. He let a person whom he knew was being falsely accused be executed.


But there was an additional item which was holding him back.


The ending seems unsatisfying to me. Between the discomfort of the main character not doing what is right and then how James revealed who the murderer was, the story does not seem to hold together very well. At least what I can gather of it..



The Boxdale inheritance

An Adam Dalgliesh story. A church canon is coming into an inheritance of questionable origin. He wants to be certain that he can accept it with a clean heart. He engages Dalgliesh to find out the story behind the inheritance. The canon was Dalgliesh’s god-father. Dalgliesh thought the canon was one of the few good men this world had produced. It was only surprising that the Canon had managed to live to seventy-one in a carnivorous world in which gentleness, humility and unworldliness are hardly conducive to survival, let alone success. Dalgliesh relized that the canon was good. But he was not a fool.


Interesting thought which Dalgliesh had about one of the canon’s relatives. That the conscience was working in him, he just ignored it.


The death happened in 1901, almost a century before. How was Dalgliesh to find out what happened? Several pages deal with the court records. THis lays out the scene and the events which happens. Dalgiesh follows up on these as best as he can. He talks to a person who studies murders of this era. He is then able to followup on the one living witness.


Interesting way which this whole scene becomes unravelled.



The Twelve Clues of Christmas

Another Adam Dalgiesh story. This time when he is just starting out as an officer. He gets flagged down on the way to Christmas Eve dinner at his aunt’s house. A man has died, may be suicide. Dalgliesh has no official role since it is not his jurisdiction.


Until the local police arrived, Dalgliesh looked around, finding a few things which did not make sense. Adam returned to the main bedroom and completed his unsuccessful search for two missing objects. The local police felt everything was plain and obvious-this was a suicide. Dalgliesh thinks there are twelve clues which makes it seem not a suicide. He and the local chief inspector go through them, leading to the conclusion.



Evaluation:

A typical James story, or should I say, set of stories. Enjoyable, as much as murder can be; well put together; and intriguing. Each of the four short stories have something to give the reader a bit of a mental workout. All are centered at Christmas time. Two have Adam Dalgliesh as the chief character. So take an hour or two, sit by the fire and enjoy them.


 
Notes from my book group:

Was this a good Christmas read?


Which story did you enjoy most? Least?


Have any of you read her longer detective stories? Does James do as well in a short setting as in the longer ones? How does James adapt to the limited space which a short story give?



The mistletoe murder

James is a very descriptive writer. Does her descriptions add to her story? How so? Give some examples.


When did you figure out who murdered Rowland? How did James let you know?


As the protagonist works through who killed Rowland, James says Murder should never be excused or condoned. But doesn’t the protagonist does exactly that? What is her justification? Does her justification hold up?



A very commonplace murder

The narrator goes through the various reasons for not clearing the accused. Were any of these good reasons? Ones you have used in other situations? How does James show that this delay is a slippery slope?


When James reveals who the murderer was, do you feel surprised? How does it fit in with the narrator not clearing the accused? Does the reasons given for justifying the murder justify it?



The Boxdale inheritance

The Canon wants to be clear of any tainted money. Is the Canon being scrupulous or is he going overboard? How would you have acted?


Is the Aunt’s money clean? In what ways?


Today many courts are clearing the accused of old crimes through the use of new evidence such as DNA. Does this make the type of sleuthing which Dalgliesh does obsolete? How do the two fit in?



The twelve clues of Christmas.

Were you able to follow the twelve clues? Did they seem to point to guilt? Which ones were the most damning?


Was the ending contrived?



New Words:
  • Cosy: as in a mystery cosy or cozy- a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence occur off stage, the detective is an amateur sleuth, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community.
  • Denouement: the final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved.
  • Lugubrious: looking or sounding sad and dismal.

Book References:


Good Quotes:

  • First Line: In her introduction in an anthology of short crime stories published in 1934, Dorothy L. Sayers wrote: “Death seems to provide the minds of the Anglo-Saxon race with a greater fund of innocent amusement than any other single subject.”
  • Last Line: It was pure Agatha Christie.
  • Murder should never be excused or condoned. CHp  The mistletoe murder
Table of Contents:
  • Foreward
  • Preface
  • The mistletoe murder
  • A very commonplace murder
  • The Boxdale inheritance
  • The twelve clues of Christmas.

References:
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