An Unsuitable Job For A Woman (2001) - Plot & Excerpts
It's interesting when crime writers have a clear lead character that they love, and decide to branch out into a different one along similar genre lines. Val McDermid transitioned from reckless PI Kate Brannigan to impotent psychologist Tony Hill and sexually frustrated Carol Jordan, and here James transitions from the poetic detective inspector Adam Dalgliesh to the ingenue PI Cordelia Gray. You might have sensed that the two authors went in opposite directions.A PI has the benefit of not having to act within the strict boundaries of the law but is limited by access to the specific details of a given case by people who don't necessarily have to say anything to them. And, when they're an ingenue, their credibility is easily called into question by other characters and readers alike.Cordelia Gray is a 22 year old private detective thrust into solo practice by the suicide of her boss. She's almost immediately hired to investigate the reason behind the suicide of a scientist's son, and in the process discovers some of what she missed by being denied Cambridge by her Bolshie father. James' work here speeds along much faster than your typical Dalgliesh, but this is in part because there is little sense of the bigger picture commonly employed by detectives. Gray moves at breakneck speed from one appointment to the next, gleaning information that is of some use to the reader but makes the character seem rushed. With Gray billing her client for time and itemising her costs, there is simply too much connective tissue; James painstakingly tells the reader precisely how Gray gets from place to place. The book is compact but seems slightly overstuffed.Cordelia Gray, at least in her first outing, isn't as compelling a character as Adam Dalgliesh. Dalgliesh's brief mentions in this book prove to the reader that James considers him an invincible and overwhelming presence; it is clear that, had Dalgliesh been on the case from the start, Gray's investigation would be totally uncalled for. On top of this, Gray gets out of all of her muddles in the end through an excessively convenient string of deaths; it's strange, to say the least.James is an author I've had a fair amount of experience with, and I can say without reservation that her later work is better than her earlier. I'll keep an eye out for more of the Gray series but I firmly believe that Dalgliesh is always going to be her more accomplished work.
Reading this book was a pleasure. However it did expose my lack of acute concentration, if not my imagining. There was one place in the book where I could do with some exactitude, that is the detective in the well part. Unlike many cozy, and English mystery books, there are quite some prurient quips lying about. Many of the physical traits of the supporting cast are confidently described. P.D. James is some writer. This book is one of the least domestic crime books I've ever read. The heroine lives, during her investigation, in a decrepit so called cottage. But the author comes into her own element when describing Cambridge. The libraries, the churches, one graveyard, the University; all of them highly etched prosaically. The story is padded with a lot of description, but this treatment doesn't feel like butter spread too thinly on bread. It would be, had the mystery lasted 400 pages. But that's not the case. Pun unintended. The two things P.D. James laid emphasis on were smells, and the deduction from people's eyes. Most of the characters are presented, or hinted, as intelligent. Some are not clever enough. But even the Pilbean lady who is branded as stupid had the voice of an oracle herself. The richness of the prose forces admiration from me and, I'm sure, others too. Conversely, the author knows how to turn the style on and off. During passages of tangy urgency, she loses the descriptions, and action is shown rather than told. The main victim, Mark Callender, is a character that can be liked by some and disliked by others. I still don't know how generous, forgiving, or intelligent he was. The fact that he left his study sealed in fate. His death is pitiable, more so in its dressing and undressing. Even death here is seen differently from the characters at various points in the narrative. I have come to new words here, like "censorious"(3 times), "prurient", "theurgy", and "deletrious". I was interested to know how the author would hide her hand. Since we are seeing the plot unravel from Cordelia's view, the solution to the problem must occur at once and not in stages. I'm glad to say that almost nothing is held from the reader. That is more admirable considering the paucity of witnesses and suspects. The truth of the case was as startling as reading this book proved to be. My first P.D. James novel; excellent.
What do You think about An Unsuitable Job For A Woman (2001)?
El primer libro que leo de la autora y dudo mucho que me acerque otra vez por voluntad propia a ella. Se me ha hecho muy pesado, a ratos me planteaba dejarlo, encima esos capítulos tan largos no me ayudaban mucho a seguir con él.Con una prota de lo más desgraciada que acaba de "tener su primera oportunidad" tras la muerte de su compañero de toda la vida (porque no quería acabar muriendo de cáncer, sino por su mano), Cordelia, pobre, con la herencia que Bernie (su socio) le ha dejado al morirse, recibe el primer caso, con alegría y con ese desapasionamiento tan propio de ella (creo que eso para mí ha sido lo pero, su desapasionamiento por todo, por la vida, por la muerte, por la gente, P.D. James le intenta meter algo de vidilla a esta mujer, pero no lo logra) o será la flema tan propia de los ingleses intenta averiguar por qué se suicidó un joven que aparentemente lo tenía todo.Como siempre, el final me ha acabado sorprendiendo, o más bien el penúltimo capítulo, y el último capítulo me ha mostrado al "Comi", un personaje bastante interesante que hubiese querido ver más a menudo y no aparecer solo en los créditos finales.
—Ifigenia
Where I got the book: my local library.My first shock of this review is checking Wiki to see where this novel comes in P.D. James's oeuvre and discovering that P.D. stands for Phyllis Dorothy. Let me just take a moment.*clears throat*Now where was I? Right. The second shock was discovering I wasn't all that impressed. I thought I liked P.D James. Have I changed or is this the Death Comes to Pemberley effect?Anyway, I find that this was James's fifth novel. And indeed the writing is that of a seasoned author, fluent and vivid, the setup is clever, and if the detective heroine is rather unremarkable she's reasonably well sketched. I did like the idea of the abandoned cottage being loved again on one side but not on the other.Generally, though, I wasn't excited by the story. James can be a little bleak at times and I think "bleak" is definitely the word here. None of the characters really seem to give a damn about each other or anything else, really. As a reader I wanted to care more and I didn't; it was a puzzle to be solved and that was all.And then, we get near the end. And the heroine guesses the clue to the mystery (view spoiler)[(and that "clue" about the blood groups is reaching a bit imho) (hide spoiler)]
—Jane
I really enjoyed this book. The main character Cordelia Gray is intelligent, brave, and resourceful without seeming over the top superpowerish. The mystery was well plotted and the clues were very subtlely placed. I am sad to discover that there are only two of these Cordelia Gray books but I will definitely read the second one as I liked this one so much. The scene in which Corelia meets Dagliesh is superb, it highlights the difference in their character and yet the mutual respect for their skills. It also highlights P.D. James ability with character crafting two such different characters within the same genre.
—Fanficfan44
