A Certain Justice
(P.D. James)
P.D. James enjoys a stellar reputation in the field of murder mysteries. A prize-winning author, she has published over a dozen mysteries. A Certain Justice in one of them.As the story of Venetia Aldridge, a high-powered lawyer in London, develops one of James? strong points as a writer comes immediately to the fore. She is faultless in presenting the procedural aspects of a crime story. Since procedure, especially when it comes to gathering and submitting evidence, is a key aspect of detective work, those who appreciate that aspect of storytelling will certainly enjoy reading this novel.For other readers, however, who want more character development, A Certain Justice may leave much to be desired. While the story includes a good-sized list of characters?Venetia?s associates in the law firm where she works, the daughter from whom she is estranged, the lover she comes to scorn, and so many others?James never succeeds in bringing them fully to life. They appear to be little more than stock characters a reader would expect to encounter in a murder mystery, as the police go about their search for the identity of the killer. When James does devote time to characters and their motivations for their actions, she does it in too much of a mechanical fashion. In a way, she appears to be playing a game of cat-and-mouse with her readers. For no sooner than she introduces a character, she turns around and hints at why she/he could be the murderer. In short, she throws far too many red herrings in the path of investigating officers. As a result, some readers will find reading A Certain Justice to be an unsatisfying experience.As for the matter of description of locales, James falls short of the mark there, too. For readers who are not familiar with London, for example, more vivid descriptions of places would serve to enhance their enjoyment of the storytelling. When a writer manages to elicit on the part of readers a sense of the actual sights, sounds and odors of a particular location through fully developed descriptions of them, that writer has delivered in full on a promise critical to captivating a reading audience.In the end, of course, the police (under the able leadership of James? principal investigator, Dalgliesh) solve the crime and identify whodunit.
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