And one more ...

[ellarien]

P. D. James, The Lighthouse

Yet another Adam Dalgliesh mystery, elegant and atmospheric, in an isolated English setting. I didn't find it entirely satisfying, though. I've had the impression over the last few books that the Baroness is an old lady who finds it more and more difficult to keep her writing in tune with the modern world. She has a two-pronged method for dealing with this; choosing remote, old-fashioned settings where the modern world doesn't impinge much; and forcing in aggressively modern elements in an attempt to make the story feel topical. In this case, the 'modern' element dates the writing very precisely to about three years ago. Also, I can't help noticing that Dalgliesh has been detecting for more than forty years now, and seems to have stopped aging somewhere along the way. His adoring minions seem to partake in the same slowing to a lesser extent, and don't notice anything odd, but it's hard on the suspension of disbelief. It gets really jarring when he reminisces about an obviously pre-war childhood.

Comments

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

"Also, I can't help noticing that Dalgliesh has been detecting for more than forty years now, and seems to have stopped aging somewhere along the way. His adoring minions seem to partake in the same slowing to a lesser extent, and don't notice anything odd, but it's hard on the suspension of disbelief. It gets really jarring when he reminisces about an obviously pre-war childhood."

Ah, the comic book super-hero syndrome. Perhaps she ought to try the patented DC solution - write a book where Dalgliesh and his team are caught in a timewarp and suddenly their lives are totally revamped and they can start again. (There's a moment in 'Voyage' where that happens and you wonder just how old Nelson is supposed to be if he remembers someone who disappeared at the end of WWW2 as a colleague when there they are in the 1980s. 'Deadly Cloud' is it?)

[ellarien]

It's not an uncommon problem in long-running series; I think Rendell's Wexford has a touch of the same syndrome.

The Voyage thing rings a faint bell, but I'm not sure of the episode, unless it's And Five of Us are Left.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

Naw, it's later than 'And Five of Us are Left' and its an alien pretending to be this WW2 miliary geezer. Nelson says he "should be in his seventies" (or was it eighties??) All very odd.

[ellarien]

Oh, right. Deadly Invasion, also memorable for the aliens in little red capsules and the saran-wrap forcefield. Not the most logically coherent episode ever!