Devices and Desires

Adam is in Norfolk, dealing with the estate of his late Aunt, whilst there, he gets caught up in the local events, where a Serial Killer known as The Whistler is preying on young women.

It's definitely an engaging story, it's quite different for PD James, I don't recall reading any of her books before where a Serial Killer is at large, The character of The Whistler is actually pretty terrifying.

The first few episodes are the best, they are chilling, they're sinister, and they really do grab your attention, we get horror, suicide, intrigue, and some real mystery. If I'm honest, I think it dips at around episode four, and some of the focus moved away from what made the first trio of episodes so exciting.

It's every well acted, Marsden as always is terrific, Gemma Jones and Susannah York also impress, look out for an interesting role from Robert Laing.

I preferred some of the earlier stories featuring Adam Dalgliesh, but Devices and Desires is another very strong offering. 7/10.

The Director decided to make a passive mini- series with as much English politeness as possible. The pace is slow. And so many scenes after scenes of nothing much, grinds it on. A lack of drama drains a PD James mystery to a pale tale.

Too many subplots, way melodramatic at times.

As someone else said, Dalgliesh had barely anything to do. What was that stranger with the shoe doing in the story? Some of the characters were made way more important than they needed to be.

Series is increasingly getting worse with each story. Wonder how Unnatural Causes is going to be like.

This is a very intense mini series set on the Norfolk coast of England involving a Nuclear facility and a serial murderer. The cast includes several outstanding players in addition to Marsden, most notably Susannah York and Gemma Jones. Kate Beckinsale appears in a short sequence in episode 2. Marsden plays his part softly and without bravado. It is an intense mystery involving a wide range of individuals including local residents and nuclear plant employees. Certainly one of the outstanding examples of P.D. James mystery writing.

My copy of the novel runs to 500 pages, and I feel it could have benefited by some severe editing. The miniseries runs to about 5 hours, and that's a lot of exposition and some unnecessary characters: the second killing of a power plant employee is set up so elaborately you want to say Get on with it! There is some very effective acting, particularly from Gemma Jones as the sister of the plant director, and Nicola Cowper as a reluctant activist in the protest against environmental hazards. Lisa Ellis, who's had parts in many series, notably EastEnders, is very good as Blaney's daughter, but the tempo does drag at times.

For those who worry about Roy Marsden's quiet acting style, I'd like to remind them that Dalgleish is a poet who drives a sports car, thus he's at the antipodes of standard detective heroes (George Gently comes to mind). This is one of those stories in which the detectives, for all their competence, are peripheral to the action. The killers do their work, and are dealt with summarily by the author.