The Lighthouse by P.D. James

I am always on a quest to find more crime writers that I like. I read crime novels when I really need to relax - or at least that is what my reading stats show. Exam terms have a noticeably large number of crime novels read.

PD James' books were recommended on a Booktube channel, whose is anyone's guess. Although it was Death comes to Pemberley that was really the book that was reviewed, her other books were mentioned in general. I managed to find a decent secondhand copy of this one, (and a copy of Death comes to Pemberley, but I was too tired at the time to try and deal with, what at a glance, appeared to be Jane Austen's language). This book is the 13th book in the Adam Dalgliesh series.

This is a locked room murder, or should I say, an isolated island murder - which is becoming a thing of its own, and at least doesn't have the problem of 'how did they get into the room' added to the questions. The man who is murdered seems an unpleasant fellow, and pretty much everyone has a motive for wanting to do him in.

Interesting was the first word that came to mind. This is the first novel I have read by PD James and I am not yet sure what I make of her style or composition of a crime novel. In some ways I really enjoyed this, in other ways I felt there was far too much information about the characters - I was in it for the crime. But then, I don't object to all the character stuff in Kathy Reichs's books, so perhaps I am feeling this way because I have missed the earlier 12 books where I would have grown to care about these people and their relationships. I have a suspicion that that is probably the case. For this book, all I can say is that I didn't care about the characters at all.

For a crime novel the plot was pleasantly twisty. I have a feeling my gran might enjoy this one. Also, fans of Ruth Rendell might enjoy this too.

I gave this 3 stars on Goodreads. My favorite crime books are the forensic crime books. I like the science investigation as opposed to the plodding from door to door method. I suppose it comes down to the fact that I like learning new things about science, and I also like testing my own science knowledge (I am often amazed just how much I can pick up and use to solve crimes in books from my general knowledge.)  As a result, I will probably read more of these books, but i won't be going out of my way to find them.