Shroud for a Nightingale (Inspector Adam Dalgliesh Mystery)

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The local police are the ones to call and I think that the Hospital Secretary should do it. I'll get Mr. Hudson on the house telephone now. They'll call in the Yard if they think it necessary. I can't think why it should be. But that decision is for the Chief Constable, not for us." Correct. And as our patient is conscious and able to swallow we are giving her this feed by mouth. Don't forget to reassure your patient, Nurse. Explain simply to her what you are going to do and why. Remember this, girls, never begin any nursing procedure without telling your patient what is to happen." James is one of my favorite writers, and I've reread most of her books several times; this time I listened to SHROUD in audio, read by Michael Jayston, courtesy of my library. He's a smooth, excellent reader, and this was very enjoyable. And now to the plot... It’s not the first time that James’ protagonist, who was featured in 14 books from 1962-2008, has been brought to the small screen (Roy Marsden and Martin Shaw played in him the ITV and BBC adaptations and there were several British radio iterations), but it’s the first time that Carvel, an Olivier Award-winning actor, has taken the role. He proves to be a fine, workmanlike addition to the oeuvre — nothing fancy or too clever, but he gets the job done. Sometimes less is more, without distracting character tics early on.

It still has an antique feel, though, for a book published in 1971. It has 1950s gender sensibilities (the assumption that a woman, once married, will end her career or her studies), it has that obsession with spinsters so irresistible to British mystery writers ("she was a thin, brown-skinned woman, brittle and nobbly as a dead branch who looked as if the sap had long since dried in her bones"), and it still features the generalized misanthropy that Christie seemed to bequeath to the genre; nearly all the suspects are hateful, bitter, or piteous in some way. Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Leo’ on Netflix, in Which Adam Sandler Voices a Lizard Who's Also a Child Psychologist nightingale) из женской разведсети, воспетому Кристиной Ханной, роман "Тайна Найтингейла" (Shroud for a Nightingale) отношения не имеет. Хотя отголоски событий Второй Мировой сыграют здесь немалую роль, а местом действия окажется школа медсестер.

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Ten minutes later the absent three returned. Nurse Dakers still looked pale but was composed. It was Nurse Goodale who looked worried. As if unable to keep it to herself, she said:

James is a peerless creator of atmosphere. She herself has always claimed that the first thing that comes to her when embarking upon a new novel is the setting. Undoubtedly, Nightingale House, the setting for most of the events in this book, singularly inappropriate for a nursing college, is almost as vividly described as any of the characters. It is a dark, nasty house, an evil house, where crimes of abuse, neglect and death had previously taken place. The final scene, when the house is finally demolished, is a masterpiece of descriptive writing which conveys so much more than just a sense of place.My dear woman, this girl's dead! Dead! What does it matter where we leave the body? She can't feel. She can't know. For God's sake don't start being sentimental about death. The indignity is that we die at all, not what happens to our bodies." Miss Beale did not inquire how she knew that the road was up. It was the sort of thing Miss Burrows invariably did know. The hearty voice went on: