A Mind to Murder

P.D. James' Dalgliesh novels are simply the best and those responsible for transposing these books to the screen do an outstanding job. As Dame James told me a couple of years ago in London, she is very proud of Roy Marsden's Dalgliesh and of the adaptation of her books into TV/movies.

"A Mind to Murder" captures (and reflects) the intensity of the plot's expectations. It's more than just "cerebral," it's captivating and mesmerizing, in the acting as well as the representation of the book. I've read all the James books and seen all the cinematic versions. All are well done and not disappointing, especially so with Marsden as Adam.

Good story, great acting, nicely made. After the disappointment of A Taste for Death, Devices and Desires, and Unnatural Causes, this was a huge upturn.

First I have to say that I am a big fan of ADAM DALGLIESH and think Roy Marsden is fabulous in the part. I read this book and loved it. The story begins with Adam at a cocktail party getting called away to investigate the brutal murder at a London Psychiatric Clinic which caters to upper class neurotics. The body of the admin officer is found with a chisel thru her heart. How Dalgliesh uncovers the motive for the killing and the wonderful cast of characters PD James created are all lost in this filmed version. The first thing that they did was change the location from the central area of London to some far remote location that Adam arrives to by helicopter.The characters are very weak and there is none of the suspense of the book. Who writes these screen plays anyway? (obviously they don't bother to read the book) and the ending is so far fetched. If I was PD James I would be very ticked that they made such a hash out of my work.

Nothing like the book. Opens with Dalgleish watching his DS,Sarah, run in to a warehouse. He follows, finds 2 bodies. Goes up a couple of stairscases finds a pistol. Looks over a rail and sees Sarah dead on the floor below, the murderer standing over her. Instead of just shooting the guy, Adam lets him get away. What?! So dumb. The rest of the film deviates so far from the book as to be unrecognizable. The acting, scenery and main characters are fine, but the solution has nothing to do with the book. Ancillary characters are forgettable and not very likable. I realize poetic license us commonplace in films and TV series episodes, but this one made absolutely no sense.

PD James writes great mysteries and most of them have been turned into good movies. This one is the exception. The screenwriter assumed that he could improve upon a very good story and botched it completely. The book is a good tightly woven mystery with interesting characters. This version removes some of the interesting doctors and nurses and replaces them with kooky patients that you could care less about. It does not spoil the ending of the movie by stating that the murderer in the book is completely written out of this story. The veteran cast does well with the material that they have and Roy Marsden as Adam Dalglish is excellent as usual.