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The Private Patient by P. D. James
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The Private Patient (original 2008; edition 2009)

by P. D. James (Author)

Series: Adam Dalgliesh (14)

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3,035954,465 (3.6)127
After thirty years, Rhoda Gradwyn has decided to get rid of the long facial scar on her left cheek. Something her father had given her at sixteen while he was drunk and angry. She had become very successful as an investigative journalist and felt it was now time for a change.

She chose to have the work done at Cheverell Manor in Dorset, Mr. Chandler-Powell’s private clinic (surgeons go by Mr. rather than Dr. in England). She was told there was no risk to her on the surgery. In about a week all would be done and she would be home. It didn’t turn out that way.

There are a number of secrets at the manor. Some that wind up connecting to Rhoda and cause her death.

Chandler-Powell had bought the manor from Sir Nicholas Cressett. His daughter works at the clinic/manor. There are the Westhalls, brother and sister, who live and work on the property. They have a connection to Robin Boyton, who is also a friend of Rhoda and stays in one of the cottages on the manor property. There is Sister Flavia Holland, the head nurse, who also has some nice curves. The Bostocks are the cooks for the manor. He has dreams of his own restaurant. They also live on the premises. Quite a nice selection of possible suspects, which is what they become, when Rhoda is found dead in her bed the morning following her surgery.

Commander Dalgliesh, of New Scotland Yard, is called in to investigate per orders from 10 Downing Street. Dalgleish finds there are secrets and past crimes that shade the current case. Not only does he have to unravel the current case, he has to unravel and connect up the old crimes to make sense of the current case.

Bit by bit, Dalgleish uncovers and puts together the pieces to get a full picture and solution to who, what, why and how Rhoda was murdered. ( )
  ChazziFrazz | Feb 23, 2022 |
English (87)  Spanish (2)  Finnish (2)  German (1)  Swedish (1)  Italian (1)  French (1)  All languages (95)
Showing 1-25 of 87 (next | show all)
(2008) Very good. A plastic surgery patient comes to a private clinic in the country to have a facial scar removed. Inexplicably, she is murdered and there appears to be no reason or suspect in the case. Adam Dlgliesh and his team of Kate and Benton are asked to come in and try to solve the murder. This is the last of the Dalgliesh series of which I read the last 5 over 16 years.KIRKUS: James's 18th novel revisits familiar ground¥an insular social setting disrupted by a shocking murderÂ¥with consummate artistry.For 34 years Rhoda Gradwyn has carried the legacy of her father's abuse in the form of a disfiguring facial scar. Now a distinguished investigative journalist, she decides to have it removed because, as she tells Harley Street plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell, ?I no longer have need of it.? The operation, performed in the surgeon's private clinic in Cheverell Manor, is successful, but it still proves fatal for Rhoda, who's strangled the following night. The murder scene, as usual in James (The Lighthouse, 2005, etc.), is thick with likely suspects and motives. Rhoda's friend Robin Boyton, who recommended the clinic, is convinced that his cousins, assistant surgeon Marcus Westhall and his sister Candace, cheated Robin out of his rightful inheritance. Helena Haverland, the clinic's general administrator, is still smarting over her family's loss of Cheverell Manor to Chandler-Powell. Head nurse Flavia Holland is maddened by spurned love. Kitchen helper Robin Bateman is hiding a dire secret. Nor does anyone seem to mourn a woman who made her living by exposing unsavory secrets. Commander Adam Dalgliesh, called away from a meeting with his prospective father-in-law, and his colleagues uncover a series of red herrings as ritualistically as Hercule Poirot, but with a great deal more psychological nuance, before the killer, who could be practically anyone, is finally unmasked.Middling work for the peerless James, a whodunit as deeply shadowed by mortality as all Dalgliesh's cases ever since Shroud for a Nightingale (1971).
  derailer | Jan 25, 2024 |
I enjoyed this entire series, but it's so very dark that I was a little bit glad when it was over. ( )
  thesusanbrown | Jun 8, 2023 |
Odd to start out with #14 in a series and be able to say you enjoyed it. I liked the murder mystery. It was intricately woven, with each of the suspects having a lot of plausible reasons to commit the murder and real convictions about "who done it" held at bay until very near the end.

I felt less involved in the Commander and his squad, but that was natural, since this is a relationship that has been building for the reader since book one and book fourteen is obviously well into that relationship and I suspect coming to the end. For a book that was picked at random from a sale table, it was not disappointing at all. I had not read anything by James before, although I was well aware of her work. I will not hesitate to read her again. ( )
  mattorsara | Aug 11, 2022 |
After thirty years, Rhoda Gradwyn has decided to get rid of the long facial scar on her left cheek. Something her father had given her at sixteen while he was drunk and angry. She had become very successful as an investigative journalist and felt it was now time for a change.

She chose to have the work done at Cheverell Manor in Dorset, Mr. Chandler-Powell’s private clinic (surgeons go by Mr. rather than Dr. in England). She was told there was no risk to her on the surgery. In about a week all would be done and she would be home. It didn’t turn out that way.

There are a number of secrets at the manor. Some that wind up connecting to Rhoda and cause her death.

Chandler-Powell had bought the manor from Sir Nicholas Cressett. His daughter works at the clinic/manor. There are the Westhalls, brother and sister, who live and work on the property. They have a connection to Robin Boyton, who is also a friend of Rhoda and stays in one of the cottages on the manor property. There is Sister Flavia Holland, the head nurse, who also has some nice curves. The Bostocks are the cooks for the manor. He has dreams of his own restaurant. They also live on the premises. Quite a nice selection of possible suspects, which is what they become, when Rhoda is found dead in her bed the morning following her surgery.

Commander Dalgliesh, of New Scotland Yard, is called in to investigate per orders from 10 Downing Street. Dalgleish finds there are secrets and past crimes that shade the current case. Not only does he have to unravel the current case, he has to unravel and connect up the old crimes to make sense of the current case.

Bit by bit, Dalgleish uncovers and puts together the pieces to get a full picture and solution to who, what, why and how Rhoda was murdered. ( )
  ChazziFrazz | Feb 23, 2022 |
The last Dalgliesh book, and she gave it an ending kind of ending. It read as though PD James would have preferred to just describe a lot of buildings and throw in a few diatribes about the Labor government, but she was willing to create an intricate mystery since that’s what the customers want. ( )
  jollyavis | Dec 14, 2021 |
Another wonderful Adam Dalgliesh. We were surprised to find him engaged to be married, but I guess that would have to happen in order for him to become a widower. I guess we haven't been reading them in order. It doesn't seem to matter. I often wish I had a list of characters at the beginning of these novels, but glad to have the kindle edition to remind myself. Good narrator for this one. Always glad to have such depth of characters and place. It was nice to read this after just finishing PD James Time to Be In Earnest. ( )
  njcur | Jul 16, 2021 |
A bit spooky in places, it is amazing that superstition really does live on in the current world, but also that oral traditions still exist to a certain extent, with local folklore. ( )
  Vividrogers | Dec 20, 2020 |
very much overrated. ( )
  zhoud2005 | Jun 8, 2020 |
This book gained my attention because of P.D James' The Black Tower. I remember reading that book when i was younger and really loving it, being an ardent Agatha Christie fan. But it is sad to say that this book definitely disappointed me.
I waited till the last page for the mystery to unravel and amaze me, but it never did. The story is left incomplete somehow even after the murderer is caught. The story had lots of places where an unexpected twist could have been added.
Overall, the experience of reading this book for me can only be described as disappointing. ( )
  AthiraNair | Apr 8, 2020 |
I got started reading James a little late in the Adam Dalgliesh series, and while I enjoyed the novel, I got the feeling that this wasn't her best AD mystery. Still, I'll cut the author some slack; she was in her 80s at the time, I believe, and could play this mystery-novel-writing game better than some people much, much younger. She's died since then, but even at the end, her work was good. Good book. ( )
  MeredithRankin | Jun 7, 2019 |
Although I read this mystery with zest finishing it within a week, I was quite disappointed with it overall. Rather maudlin at the end --perhaps fans of AD & his crew need a sentimental slice of the characters' 'lives'--, the culprit was recognizable and the incident with the secondary suspect at the end was beyond far-fetched without prior build up; not to mention the totally extraneous incident with E's friend. This book could have been trimmed down drastically and the story would still have been intact. ( )
  amaraki | May 17, 2019 |
A complex closed envioronment mystery set in a private surgacal clinic in the English countryside. Commander Dalgleish and his squad take over from the local police after an investigative journalist is murdered in her bed. The suspects, as in classic cozies, is limited to the inhabitants of the converted manor, a complex group of people with no readily apparent motives. The solution is surprising, and does rely on information not given the reader. It is even a little ambiguous, with Dalgleish left wondering whether he has the complete story. Very evocative descriptions of the building and surroundings. ( )
  ritaer | Jan 8, 2019 |
typical pd james. Excellent writing and beautifully drawn characters. Great read ( )
  ashkrishwrites | Aug 29, 2018 |
Not the best P. D. James mystery (I'm fond of Cover Her Face), but still thoroughly enjoyable. ( )
  GaylaBassham | May 27, 2018 |
very good — but at end tied up so many different story lines — to wrap up.
like Holographic Will

Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate a murder at a private nursing home for rich patients being treated by the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. A welcome addition to the Dalgliesh canon, The Private Patient could have been written by no one other than P.D. James.
  christinejoseph | May 22, 2018 |
Yup, I definitely need to read more P.D. James :)

This book rambles a bit, and it may be endemic to the series. With the lovely narration, and rich characterization, though, it was very pleasant rambling. ( )
  hopeevey | May 20, 2018 |
Although I could never hope to be as good a writer on my best day as P. D. James is on her worst day I have to say I didn't find this as good as some of her best work. There were several, admittedly minor, questions left unanswered and I thought it was somewhat dispassionate even though the murders in the plot were crimes of passion. Maybe it is time for Adam Dalgliesh and his creator to retire.

The title refers to Rhoda Gradwyn, a successful investigative journalist with a terrible facial scar, who goes to a noted plastic surgeon to finally have the scar removed. She elects to have the operation done at his private clinic, situated in the magnificent home in Dorset called Cheverell Manor. The night after her successful operation she is strangled in her bed. Adam Dalgliesh and his special team are called in because the other private patient at the clinic is married to an important political person.

In the lead up to the murder there are several people who might have motives for murdering Rhoda. There is her friend, Robin Boyton, who is perpetually low on money and has been told by Rhoda that he will be left something in her will. There is Helena Cresset who was raised in Cheverell Manor but her father had to sell it after a financial scandal that was exposed by Rhoda. Helena is now the manager of the private clinic and lives in the Manor. Then there is Candace Westhall, sister of the assisting surgeon, who objected very strongly to Rhoda being treated at the Manor because of her profession.

As Dalgliesh and his team investigates more possibilities arise and then the body of Robin Boyton is discovered in a disused freezer. Slowly, inexorably the guilty party becomes obvious. There is some development of the personal lives of the investigators and the other people at the Manor but, as I said in the beginning, some questions are never answered. In particular, we never get an answer to why Rhoda decided after 34 years to get the scar fixed, why she said "I no longer need it." That to me is an unsatisfactory plot device. ( )
  gypsysmom | Aug 9, 2017 |
Not the best P. D. James mystery (I'm fond of Cover Her Face), but still thoroughly enjoyable. ( )
  gayla.bassham | Nov 7, 2016 |
In theory I like the idea that Dame James tried something new--the detecting does not solve the mysteries, but then there is a long unwinding on motive. In practice, I found it a little dull. Also, the perp, who must be truly evil to have killed or attempted to kill as she did (the second two) does not come across that way. A small thing--the first victim says she is giving up her scar "because she no longer needs it." This keeps being referred to--but there's never any explanation. ( )
  ahaehl | Oct 6, 2016 |
Published in 2008, ‘The Private Patient’ turned out to be the fourteenth and last in the Adam Dalgliesh detective series by PD James and there are flashes which make me think James knew that. It wasn’t to be her last novel, though. ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’, published in 2011, was to be her last. She died in 2014 at the age of 94.
Is ‘The Private Patient’ her best Dalgliesh novel? For me, no. I think the thirteenth in the series, ‘The Lighthouse’, is the best. Other favourites are ‘Devices and Desires’ and ‘Original Sin’.
‘The Private Patient’ takes a while to get going. The first few chapters tell us about the victim, Rhoda Gradwyn, who we know will die at a private clinic in Dorset. Rhoda has a facial scar which she will have removed in surgery at Cheverell Manor. The intriguing thing for me is that Rhoda tells her surgeon she has no further need for the scar, but this seemed to get buried in the explanation of Rhoda’s background and that of the staff at the Manor. Of course, once the murder happens, the story moves rapidly. This is an old-fashioned English murder story set in a private cosmetic surgery clinic where it seems everyone has something to hide. The characterization is a little clichéd, perhaps James’ use of her own background is more evident here than in earlier novels.
We get more this time about Kate Miskin which I enjoyed, more beyond her origins which James has told us about before. If James had been younger, I can quite see that she would have retired Dalgliesh and started a new series based on Miskin.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/ ( )
  Sandradan1 | Aug 22, 2016 |
P.D. James belongs to that coveted British mystery novelist genre so well represented by Agatha Christie and Ngiao Marsh - well there is plenty of room in their lofty station for a writer of Ms James' calibre.
The Private Patient is another of her skillfully crafted mysteries. Her mysteries draws one in, both to the story and into the lives of the characters, several of whom can be made to seem to have a motive.
We learn about the patient and her quiet lonely desperation which lead her to seek surgery at last. Just when she is about to have a chance at a normal life - perhaps one in which she would find real friends. and one in which she could hold her head up proudly.
There are, as usual, several viable suspects, with plausible motives. It is up to our hero, Inspector Dalgiesh, in the typical British reserved manor, to reflect upon the clues and decifer which point to the perpetrator of the crime. ( )
  CathyWoolbright | Apr 20, 2016 |
I felt this was not P.D. James's best book, but it did give us closure. It was good to see Adam Dalgliesh finally happy, though I can't help thinking he would have been better off with Kate. The resolution of the mystery confused me, though, and I could not figure out the Helena/George subplot, unless it was to contrast with Dalgliesh and Emma. ( )
  WeaselOfDoom | Jul 13, 2015 |
strange ending, i can't say i quite got what the last chapter was all about ( )
  pepe68 | Sep 4, 2014 |
It had all the good elements of a P.D. James but ultimately was not very satisfying. The mystery was well-done, I had not a clue who did it, and the characters were interesting and the writing was very good but the final wrap up left me wondering. I was not convinced that Candace acted alone, what was up with George and Helena, why did Lottie deciede to travel the world and was I supposed to care about that. I did enjoy the lovely understatement of Adam and Emma's wedding to end but I think there has to be a new Dalgliesh, this can't really end it.
  amyem58 | Jul 15, 2014 |
As always I was very impressed how PD James builds up her stories. It's not the murder which is the centre of the plot, it's more an addition to the stories of all characters. PD James can outline all the characters so vividly and with a great love that you can get the feeling to have met them personally and have spent some time with them. In this story a journalist who went for a plastic surgery in a Manor (also a privat clinic) has been throttled. A few days later another person was killed, too. Adam Dalgliesh and his team had to solve the puzzles. The path to solve them led Dalgliesh's team to different places and life stories. Some of them were related to each other whereas some were unrelated. The outcome was a surprise especially the murderer's action and I was happy that Dalgliesh didn't let it stand like that but was searching for answers. ( )
  Ameise1 | Feb 27, 2014 |
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