This set contains the T.V. adaptations of the crime fiction novels written by P.D. James and featuring the detective and poet Adam Dalgleish, based at New Scotland Yard but making frequent 'sorties' to East Anglia and, occasionally, elsewhere.

The set is complete and comes with many extras, including televised and written interviews with tRoy Marsden. Informal and informative, these furnish an added dimension to the viewing of these episodes as that player's 'on screen' time alone as Adam Dalgliesh is in the region of a staggering 36 hours!

Phyllis Dorothy James White, Baroness James of Holland Park (b. 1920) did not in fact begin writing until she was in her thirties and it was 1962 before her first novel, 'Cover Her Face', was actually published. More recently, she has received serious literary acclaim and is now respected as perhaps Britain's premier writer of crime fiction, although such proposals can inevitably be countermanded by the opinions, tastes and preferences of other reviewers ... and rightly so! What we can say for certain is, hitherto, at least, James' other 'crime creature', Cordelia Gray, has not enjoyed such a scorching ascent to the azimuth of public acclaim as Adam Dalgliesh has! P.D. James has been awarded the mantle, by some writers, of being the obvious successor to Agatha Christie.

The novels and, to a considerable extent, these excellent adaptations, too, furnish a number of features usually considered to be James' 'watermarks'; there is usually a balance between an urban and a rural setting of the plot (with the possible exception of 'A Taste for Death', 1986) and there is usually a large institution (a hospital, retirement home, church, nurses home et al) in evidence which houses a number of suspects. Her 1989 novel, Devices and Desires, provides the reader with what is perhaps the most excellent example of a cunning and misleading intertwining of plot and subplot. Fortunately, the T.V adaptation and screenplay do not disappoint with exceptional casting and five hours in which to develop the carefully sculptured characterizations, so representative of the writer.

We should not be surprised by the authoress' preoccupation with institutions. She herself commenced employment in the Department of Home Affairs (Crimainal Department) and she remained a civil servant - including work in the Criminal Law department of the Home Office - up to her retirement in 1979. The exacting, and sometimes decisive forensic details add an edge to her books and to these episodes; in almost each instance, precise details are finely delineated and scrutinised, probably most notably in the eerily ambient adaptation of 'A Taste for Death'.

As a character, Commander Adam Dalgliesh is most certainly a highly cultivated individual with, at times, what amounts to a pitiless attention to detail. He has found success in his prime occupation along with passing accreditation as a man of letters ... Notwithstanding all this, this bard's amorous pursuits, in stark contrast, have been serenaded only by dirges and delusion. This makes him something of a complex personality; at times brooding and pondering; at other times, mechanically analytical. In print and on screen Dalgliesh often appears to be more content when engaged in contemplation than he does when part of a social company; pure sensory emotion alone does not suffice.

To sum up, this is an excellent collection and the productions have faired pretty well. What the older episodes lack in technical effects and frills, they more than compensate for with their copious indulgence in plot, subplot and luxurious characterisation.

Michael Calum Jacques (aka Mike MacKinnon, former radio presenter)