The Lighthouse – P.D. James
The 13th (2005) in the excellent Inspector Dalgliesh mystery series. The second most recent.
… Acclaimed novelist Nathan Oliver incurs the wrath of his fellow residents on Combe Island, a private property off the Cornish coast used as an exclusive retreat by movers and shakers in many fields. When Oliver is murdered, Scotland Yard dispatches Dalgliesh and two of his team to Combe, where the commander checks alibis and motives in his trademark understated manner. …
Dalgliesh is stricken with S.A.R.S. in this one.
P.D. James is one of the best writers today, quality literature in the British tradition.
The detailed and ingenious plotting reminds me of some of the great BBC TV serials.
My Dad watches a lot of BBC. My Mom never misses Coronation Street.
It’s amazing how many older, even elderly, actors get work on British television, all seemingly stage trained. Normal looking people, most with crooked teeth.
On American TV being a model with no acting experience at all – but great teeth and hair – is sufficient to get you a role.
I totally agree — love P.D. James and Ruth Rendell books, and the British TV we get over here (there, it’s not all so hot — they have as many stupid good-looking people on TV as we do over here). I’d love to borrow that P.D. James if you still have it when you get back. I like those Dalgleish books. Do you ever watch Doc Martin, a very gentle PBS comedy series about a crusty doctor living in smalltown Cornwall, England? Very charming. Are you having fun in Hawaii?
Kate Zimmerman
November 2, 2009 at 11:46 am
Doc Martin?
I believe I watched my first episode with my Dad a couple of weeks ago.
We watched all of the BBC TV available that week.
The P.D. James, unfortunately, was an audio book I borrowed from the Maui library. Listened rapt to all those CDs while driving around the island.
rickmc
November 2, 2009 at 8:03 pm