The Private Patient by PD James

Adam Dalgleish is going to marry Emma.  On asking her father's blessing, the couple are gently teased by the old man. Borrowing dialogue from Oscar Wilde, he inquires, tongue in cheek, about his prospective son-in-law's income and home. This delightful scene is interrupted when Adam's mobile rings.

The case he is must investigate is the murder of a post-operative patient in Dorset. The victim was recovering in "one of the most beautiful houses in England," now a nursing home. Emma is sanguine when her policeman fiance is summoned away. She rearranges her weekend plans to stay in London with her oldest girlfriend, recently married to her gay partner. Little do the three women dream of the unwelcome drama they'll soon face.

The pacing of this novel is exquisite. In the first third, we are lulled by the beauty and privacy of the nursing home where a well-known investigative journalist is about to have an old facial scar removed. She has finally managed to forgive her long-dead father for striking her all those years ago, and tells the surgeon she "no longer needs" the mark. In this early portion of the book, the violence done to Rhoda by her father is part of a distant past.

Meanwhile, before leaving London, Rhoda treats a friend to a meal. Watching her tease him over an expensive lunch, we sense that that she likes but does not entirely trust this handsome young man. Mild alarm bells sound in the reader's mind.

At the private nursing home in Dorset, the competent surgeon and the harmless-seeming staff feel soothing: likewise the beauty of the countryside, the tasteful decor of the manor and the delicious food served there. Only in passing do we learn that a young woman was once burned as a witch at the standing stones that flank the property.

Then the first shocking act of violence strikes, affording a glimpse of what lies beneath the smooth surfaces of the characters. From the points of view of several of them, we witness the papered-over pain and resentment that lie hidden. Once the detectives arrive and begin work on the case, death strikes again. And yet again. This middle portion of the story is fraught with terrifying urgency, and filled with confusion and uncertainty.

The author takes her time to wind the story down, leaving hints and ambiguities to make the reader wonder -- Am I missing something? Is someone else going to die? Was that strange confession true?

A masterfully told story by the renowned PD James, this tale has all the elements of a cosy and much more. It is smart, contemporary, and philosophical. One lovely moment comes when a retired lawyer responds to Dalgleish's comment that he is only a policeman, not an ethicist: "all civilized people must be ethicists." For me, that notion had a satisfying resonance. In this era of social upheaval, as traditional social contracts are being eroded and torn up around us, the only way out its in.