“The Black Tower”, by P.D. James

James, P. D. The Black Tower. New York: Scribner, 1975. Print.

This is one of those books that I read unintentionally, just because my mother happened to leave it sitting out at their house.  I’ve heard James’ name, of course, but never happened to have read any of her books.  I’m not usually a big reader of mysteries.  Although I occasionally pick one up and usually enjoy them, it often seems like I’m missing something by not being familiar with the genre – I will miss details that an experienced reader would notice.  Since I don’t like feeling like an outsider, it keeps me from picking up another one until a year or two has passed.

I did like this book, though, about a police inspector in the UK (Adam Dalgliesch, whose name never really settled into a pronunciation in my mind) who goes to visit an old friend and finds he has recently died.  The inhabitants and staff of the big house nearby, which has been turned into a rest home, are the only real possibilities for suspects.  As usual there were clues which I didn’t pick up on, but I sympathized with many of the characters and disliked the ones I was supposed to, so the ending was satisfying.