THE LIGHTHOUSE
By P. D. James
Knopf, $25.95, 528 pages
REVIEWED BY MURIEL DOBBIN
The cast of characters is complicated and the plot is intricate, yet a strange little island emerges as the the controlling mechanism of the latest P. D. James mystery. Adam Dalgliesh, her tormented police protagonist, is admirably qualified for an investigation not only focused on but overwhelmed by the location of the crimes which is Combe Island off the coast of Cornwall. The secluded and almost secret little island dates back to 16th-century piratical shenanigans and offers evidence that there will always be an England, especially when it comes to murder mysteries. As always, Ms. James sets her scene with meticulous care. In this case, it has reverberations of the classic English mystery with a cast of suspects ranging from a retired German diplomat to the director of a controversial animal research laboratory and a novelist seeking literary rebirth on the island of his forebears.
Combe Island is a legacy left in trust from a family bereaved by World War I and bereft of funds. As Ms. James puts it, “the Holcombes were the kind of family who die in wars, not make money from them.” Which was how the island became a place of rest and seclusion for a few of those in positions of power who need to escape the stress of their professional lives. Flown in by helicopter, they are deprived of even mobile telephones, and assured of privacy.
What they are not assured of, as it turns out, is life. And the murder of novelist Nathan Oliver in a lighthouse on the island becomes a matter for Scotland Yard because Combe Island has become a potential site for a top secret international meeting. Hence the arrival of Commander Dalgliesh and staff to interrogate the few who live on Combe Island as well as its handful of visitors.
Ms. James skillfully weaves Dalgliesh’s personal problems into her plot, yet he remains the quietly powerful spider at the center of the web. His sudden severe illness in the midst of the investigation adds a fillip to its progress, especially when he knits clues together as he lies miserably in a hospital bed. Amidst the red herrings, Dalgliesh tracks the killer, and Ms. James lives up to her reputation for assembling a crew of unlikely but potential murderers.
She notes that Combe is an imaginary island, yet the reader is left to speculate that somewhere off the Cornish coast there is at least the equivalent of the tight little island that she so painstakingly describes, as well as the lighthouse where the first crime takes place. The plot moves from cottage to cottage on Combe Island, reminiscent of mysteries where the suspects in the end are congregated in one room so that the culprit may be revealed. The commanding role of the island emerges from Ms. James’ sense of people and place. The murders on Combe Island are eerily appropriate to dark events of its past that are not easily subdued by a more placid present.
Ms. James has always been expert at tangling relationships so that she can untangle them, and by the time the deaths on Combe Island are resolved, she has even managed to sort out the trying personal life of detective poet Commander Dalgliesh and his love interest, Emma Lavenham, who has the sense to realize that while he is dedicated to his job, he really would rather be with her than scrutinizing corpses. There is a simplicity to the story that seems to stem from its location. Even the solution is more sorrowful than sinister. Ms. James’ fans will not be disappointed in this one.
Muriel Dobbin is a former White House and national political reporter for McClatchy Newspapers and The Baltimore Sun.
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