Nice texture
Richard B. Schwartz | Columbia, Missouri USA | 01/30/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"P. D. James's stories are all nicely textured, with carefully-layered plotting and interesting characters. In this story we have a crime novelist who is found dead, his hands severed from his body. The suspects have alibis; one (a slightly effete and decidedly obnoxious critic) is played by the superb Bill Nighy. There are two subplots, one involving a sleazoid gangster, the second involving Dalgleish and his relationship with his girl friend. As those subplots intersect, the girl friend is threatened. The climax is particularly memorable, with a storm at sea and Dalgleish trapped with a suspect in a seaside cottage through which the winds are howling and in which the water is rising. This is definitely worth a look, if only for the Nighy character."
One of James' Most Suspenseful
A viewer | Northern Michigan,USA | 09/03/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is one of James' most suspenseful DVDs-just below A Certain Justice and
Original Sin. The ending is particularly so.Once again,Marsden plays Dalgliesh to
a "T",moving the case along at a good pace throughout.It is too bad that he is
unable to commit more time to his long time girl friend though. The color is excellent,
though I miss (as usual) Closed Captioning (even a list of characters with a summary
of their roles would have been useful as an extra. However,one does have the book &
can review the DVD (which can be a plus).The color is good,and the acting excellent."