The Black Tower

Adam Dalgliesh #5: The Black Tower

  - P.D. James

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was quite bland and tedious. The setting and the atmosphere were both bleak, while the character cast was unlikable as ever. Dalgliesh's role is unofficial for a second time. It restricts the investigation a bit, because even though people are willing to talk for the most part, he cannot exercise his authority much. His deductions, as presented to readers, continue to lack the logical process of reasoning based on facts. The revelation of the poison-pen is totally like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, while the murderer's identity and motive are arrived at through a lengthy speculation with a theory.

The build up of the mystery is actually fine, despite the grim setting and the boring details. What pulls it down is the way the solution is presented - pages of conjecture and a gut-feel of antipathy towards the criminal. I think that is why this series has failed to impress me much, even though I like the writing - the solutions is based more on intuition than on logical deduction or pursuit of clues.
I'd have rated it 2.5-3 had the denouement been better.