Monday, August 31, 2009

An Unsuitable Job for a Woman

An Unsuitable Job for a Woman is a detective novel by P.D. James. Adam Dalgliesh is mentioned throughout but doesn't appear until the very end. This book introduces Private Detective Cordelia Gray, who has another book like this one in which she is the main character. I enjoy P.D. James' mysteries. There were a couple of odd word choices. For example: "...the usual unseemingly wrangling..." Now, shouldn't that be "unseemly"?

from the back of the book:
Handsome Mark Callender did not die the way a well-brought-up gentleman should. He was found hanging by his neck, a lipstick stain on his mouth and a picture of a nude girl nearby. The official verdict was suicide, but his aristocratic father suspected murder, and hired fledgling detective Cordelia Gray to investigate. As this determined young lady followed a twisting trail of guilty secrets and shameful sins, she soon reached the conclusion that the nicest people do the nastiest things — in a case that proves at every shocking turn to be "An Unsuitable Job for a Woman."


That's not quite right, though, because the picture of the nude isn't found until later, and at no point is there the suggestion that Mark Callender's father "suspected murder". Sometimes the text on the backs of books is not what you'd call accurate... Or maybe I'm just in a picky mood.

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