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  • A Taste for Death

  • By: P. D. James
  • Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
  • Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (872 ratings)
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A Taste for Death cover art

A Taste for Death

By: P. D. James
Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
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Summary

A Taste of Death won the 1986 'Silver' Dagger in the CWA Crime Awards.

An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery.

Set in London, the seventh Adam Dalgliesh mystery from the best-selling author of Death Comes To Pemberley is a compulsive thriller and a chilling study of the complex motives behind cold-hearted murder.

Two men lie in a welter of blood in the vestry of St Matthew's Church, Paddington, their throats brutally slashed. One is Sir Paul Berowne, a baronet and recently-resigned Minister of the Crown, the other a homeless man. Dalgliesh and his team, set up to investigate crimes of particular sensitivity, are faced with a case of extraordinary complexity as they discover the Berowne family's veneer of prosperous gentility conceals ugly and dangerous family secrets.

P.D. James, the bestselling author of Death Comes to Pemberley, Children of Men and The Murder Room, explores the mysterious and intense emotions responsible for the unique crime of murder with authority and sensitivity.

A Taste For Death, won the Silver Dagger award for crime fiction and was adapted into a BBC television series starring Roy Marsden as the inspector protagonist, Adam Dalgliesh.

©2014 Faber & Faber (P)2014 Faber & Faber

Critic reviews

"James still delivers the pace and tensions of a mystery yarn better than any living writer." ( The People)
"Her best and most ambitious tale to date.... The reigning mistress of murder.... A craftsman with a poet's vision, she not only detects evil but attempts to uncover the more elusive--and enduring--enigmas of the human psyche that lead to it." ( The Times)

What listeners say about A Taste for Death

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The best narrator ever

I loved this book - maybe I'm one of the last people to discover PD James - but the real star is the narrator Daniel Weyman. Now I do a search for anything he has read and I know I'll be ok ! The narrator is arguably the most important factor in an audio book. I've been unable to listen to what I know are great books because of the narration. This combo is a winner

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47 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

More than just a mystery story

If you just want a straight forward detective story then this is probably not the book for you. However, if you want to hear a story that is filled with such excellent descriptions that uses all your senses and makes the story come alive then this is the one for you. I heartily recommend it.

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

P D James has become very wordy, not enough pace for me.

There was a time when I read everything P D James wrote, and maybe this book is better read to oneself than as an audiobook. It is rather dated by today's standards, with at times a paralysing slowness of delivery, due to the complex turns of the plot rather than the narrator, who did his best to keep my interest.
I found myself struggling to keep up with the ramifications of the story, although I kept listening until the end. But I was relieved when it was over, and I could look forward to finding something to listen to with a bit more life to it.
The author is one of the best, her narrative skills and erudition are unparalleled. But despite her way with words, drama is lacking.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Di
  • 28-05-16

A superb classic mystery

If you have read the Murder Room, it would be difficult for you to decide which one is the best of P. D. James and Adam Dalgliesh. A Taste of Death is equally well written and even more complex and interesting, as it is richer in characters. The book would make a good dramatisation, there is the sense that it is the script of a theatrical play, because many of the characters are stereotypical cliches, the inevitable product of their class and circumstance. As usual P. D. James takes us back to a time when class differences were more palpable. But if like me, you are a big fan of British classic mystery, this one is not to be missed. The book is wonderfully written, the mystery slowly unravelled and of course the narration is brilliant.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Disappointing story overall

Liked the performance very much. Story started very well but petered out after the killer got to Kate's flat and became melodramatic and not quite believable. I mostly liked the style of writing.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

slow paced

It took several listens to get into the story. The narrator's voice is very calm, no doubt in order to fashion himself as the unflappable Dagleish. The unfortunate side effect is that it's very easy to drift off.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Hard to follow at times but good listen

I struggled to get into this book at the start and gave up. However, I returned to it a few weeks on, tried again and enjoyed it.
The detail can be a little hard to follow at times and the story jumps through different characters at a pace that at times left me feeling "who was he again? Brother? Cousin? Chauffeur?"
Having said it was well worth persevering it's a good story, not too predictable with some unexpected turns. As my PD James novel I will be trying another one.
As for the narrator, I thought he was great. Fantastic variety of character voices which helped me to identify some of the many characters there were! I am extremely picky about narrators and would say he's one of the best I've heard. I'll be considering other books just for his narration!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

5 Star

Loved this book when I read it a few years ago and loved it even more this time around! Great performance for a well written and enjoyable story.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • A
  • 23-01-15

Great plot, well read

A rolling story that keeps you listening, beautifully and richly written.
Keeps you guessing without forcing situations or being contrived

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

DEVICES AND DESIRES.

FANTASTIC PD JAMES BOOK

Daniel Wayman did his excellent job of narrating this book.

Starts off with a murdeer / suicide and it soon becomes mulitple murders

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3 people found this helpful