Unnatural Causes

De: P. D. James

Narrado por: Penelope Dellaporta

Award-winning author P. D. James third mystery in her best-selling series featuring Scotland Yard investigator Adam Dalgliesh is now available on CD!

Maurice Seton was a famous mystery writer - but no murder from his imagination could equal the ghastliness of his own death. When his grotesquely mutilated corpse is found in a drifting dinghy, ripples of horror spread among his bizarre neighbors: the cruel and cynical drama critic, the celebrated recluse, and the rakish young heir. It is up to Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh and his extraordinary aunt to discover the shocking truth about Seton's past - before the plot takes another murderous turn.

©2001 P.D. James (P)2008 Books on Tape

Reseñas de la Crítica

“P. D. James scores with understated humor, stately yet unpretentious prose, psychological insights…plus, above all, fundamental warmth and wisdom in every line she writes." (Kirkus Reviews)

great read.

love everything P.D.James writes. and this one is no exception.and I admire this narrator

Many plot holes.

One of PD James’ weakest efforts. Very slow moving with many plot holes. “Hit him hard enough to knock him out but not leave a mark.” Really?

Ugly Murder Beautifully Related

The first murder was labeled natural causes, but it was totally unnatural. The novel was eminently readable. Not a detective, I could not ferret out the murderer for myself. P. D. James led me through the plot with exquisite narration.

P. D. James always good; not as fond of narrator

P. D. James is absolutely reliable in producing excellent classic murder mysteries. The team of detectives are interesting.

I just don't enjoy Penelope Dellaporta's narration much. I prefer more of a reading of a book, rather than an 'acting.' There's always some soul-searching and facing of the problems of realities in the Adam Dagliesh series. Ms. Dellaporta's narration make it into a dirge. I find myself picturing the characters slumping and dragging themselves through the story, sighing and hand-wringing; it's all just sooooooo hard, so bleak and depressing for them. I'm not sure if another narrator would leaven the heaviness or not. I also find Ms. Dellaporta's voice quite grating; several of character's voices are shrill.

It's enough that I think I'll be passing on anymore recordings of this series with this narrator and trying reading the books instead.

Not the best, but close enough

Not the best PD James novel. . . a little too talky amongst characters that weren't all that appealing or interesting. Still she manages to sustain the tension through an intricate plot and her note worthy attention to detail, and she wraps it all-up with a typical P D James surprise ending

Painful narration

This is my second or third time through the Inspector Dalgliesh series -- they are wonderful fiction. First time for the audio versions, and it's becoming an increasingly difficult listen.

Honestly, this narrator reads like she has a group of four- and five-year-olds seated in front of her for "story hour." Every sentence is exaggerated and dramatic. It's almost condescending. At the same time, outside of the dialogue, she uses the same tone and cadence for each sentence, creating a soporific effect. It's like being lulled to sleep and then abruptly woken whenever a character speaks.

It was less pronounced in the previous two books and therefore only mildly irritating. I'm at the junction of the two parts and wondering if I can finish this. It's a shame because the books themselves are top notch.

ETA: I returned this and moved on to the later books narrated by Charles Keating. Very enjoyable!

I tried....I really tried

I made it through 2 hours and 45 minutes of this book before I couldn't take any more. Most of that time was character development...of some really boring characters, and a few minutes of a murder that had taken place. I found myself going back many times because I had drifted off while listening. I'm not sure if it was just because it was so boring or the reader's voice was monotonous. I feel sorry for the author to have put so much time and effort into a project that ended up not good. I'm just glad Audible offers a return of bad books.

One of her worst

With such a catchy opening, I was excited for the remainder of this novel. But the characters were bland, even Dalgliesh's aunt. The solution to the mystery was awful - totally improbable, even down to the way the solution was revealed. I was not expecting such poor quality from such a wonderful author. The only redeeming qualities about this book are James' beautiful, vivid descriptions of the countryside in Sussex and the affection Dalgliesh has for his aunt.

Dear God make it stop!

ok, well this was a big waste of money. horrible, simply horrible...i couldn't get past the first 2 hrs...i tried i really did...but the narrator was so bad and the storyline jumped around so much i didn't know what was going on. i had just listened to a book by P.D. James so couldn't wait to dive into this one. i'm back here now to download another book, i just can't finish this one.

If ever a book needed unabridged, this is it…

There is just so much needless, uninteresting detail here. It slows the book down tremendously and makes it boring. But this is how I have found all the books I’ve read in this series. Life is too short to listen to boring, unnecessary details and annoying characters. I wanted to love PD James, but now I’m too bored to even care to finished the ones I have left in my library. I suspect these MIGHT be better in book format than audio.