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An Unsuitable Job for a Woman |
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 An Unsuitable Job for a Woman byP. D. James Random House (Vintage Canada) 320 pages, 2000 ISBN 0676972268 Reviewed by Maria Y. Lima A dead student, a dead boss and a father that wants to find out why his son committed suicide - put them all together and you get yet another of P.D. James' classic tales, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. London private investigator Cordelia Gray, finds her business partner/boss Bernie Pryde, dead by his own hand as a result of a cancer diagnosis. Left to her own devices to pay the rent and keep the business going, the 22-year-old PI accepts a commission from Sir Ronald Callender, an influential Cambridge microbiologist. Sir Ronald's son, a student at university, was recently discovered dead in the small cottage that was his home. An apparent suicide, Mark's death left plenty of unanswered questions - primarily, the question asked by all survivors when a suicide occurs - why? Cordelia reluctantly agrees to take the case, and begins an investigation that leads to secrets, lies, and discoveries that everyone would rather keep hidden. Far from the pulp fiction primordial soup of hard-bitten PIs and seductively shallow female clients, P.D. James' Cordelia Gray establishes herself as a serious, solid and far-from-pedantic sleuth. Her wits and determination tend to outweigh the raw newness of her job, and she takes to the task with a focused purpose that borders on the obsessive. In this recent re-issue of another James' classic, the author once again proves that quality, style, and literate writing can definitely remain an integral part of the detective novel. Having set the bar to its higher standard, James proves time and again that she can not only meet that standard, but she can continue to exceed it. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman is a classic bestseller, a must read for fans of British mystery, especially for those who have yet to discover this doyenne of the genre. |
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