A review by audra_spiven
A Certain Justice by P.D. James

3.0

This was my first P. D. James novel, and while I don't really have anything to criticize about this novel, I can't say that it kept me on the edge of my seat either. It is pretty boilerplate detective fiction, and it held my interest without fascinating me. It picked up a bit around 2/3 of the way through, and then the end was probably different from James's usual endings, but 20+ years after publishing it just doesn't seem all that innovative now. I am always conflicted in a situation like this--I dropped myself into the middle of a series in which a principal character is followed but also in which each book stands alone, so while I haven't read the previous 9 novels to cultivate a personal interest in the detective character, I am also not totally lost on plot because the plot starts and ends with this book--so my conflict is, is it worth getting to know Adam Dalgliesh by going back to James's first book and reading the series in publication order, or do I pretty much have the scope of him from this one book from late in the series. I feel quite milquetoast about it overall, so I probably won't pursue more Dalgliesh, but I am confident in saying that P. D. James is a capable writer of complex narrative and a creator of characters who have depth. I enjoyed this.