A Mind to Murder

A detailed Summary of A Mind to Murder

One of the basic assumptions underlying any detective novel is a sense of social order. The novelist assumes that the reader agrees that killing people is wrong; it does not matter if the victims are exemplary citizens or odious individuals, it is the mere act of snuffing out another's life that is against the social order. In P.D. James' A Mind To Murder, Nurse Marion Bolam's murder of her stuffy and self-righteous cousin Enid illustrates a situation where the nurse and her invalid mother had suffered from her cousin's stinginess; James gives us a clear look at the murderer's fear that if Enid had been given time to change her will as she had threatened to do, the Marion and her mother would never get the money to which they considered themselves entitled. However, James urges us to understand, this does not matter. Murder, for whatever reason it is committed, is still murder, and it is always wrong.

However, the murder of Enid Bolam is not the only violation of the social order which James describes in this book. Chief amongst his other villains is Peter Nagle, the young and attractive porter at the Steen Clinic. Peter is also a gifted painter, and is only working at the clinic to pay his living expenses while he waits for

There is one significant difference, however. Adam Dalgliesh is determined to uphold the same social order that Marion Bolam and Peter Nagle were determined to undermine. Consequently Jennifer Priddy's life is saved in the nick of time, and the solution to all the crimes is unraveled. Although these are the most flagrant violations of social order in this novel, there are a number of others as well. A third violation is represented by the situation of Dr. James Baguley. He is married to a woman who has some form of neurosis. Mrs. Baguley is very dependent on him and very recriminatory about his leaving her alone or even being late arriving home from work. One could argue that some of this is the result of Dr. Baguley's affair with a co-worker, Fredrica Saxon. On the other hand, there is every evidence that Mrs. Baguley's neurotic behavior preceded the affair, not resulted from it (at least this is the impression we get from Miss Saxon herself). Nonetheless, the author seems to argue, while living with a neurotic and clingy wife is certainly a strain, it does not license one to have an affair. To do so is to subvert the social order again, and it inevitably results in tragedy. The tragedy in this case amounted to the public "outing" of Miss Saxon's and Dr. Baguley's affair, and the situation is only completely rectified when Miss Saxon turns to religion, the Baguleys renew their wedding vows (thus affirming their basic love and fidelity) and Miss Saxon leaves the Steen Clinic to work at a church-sponsored clinic for mentally-retarded children in a distant northern city.

a prestigious arts grant to come his way. However, Peter is infected with the arrogance of those who feel that their talent entitles them to liberties unavailable to the rest of society. He lives in a magnificent studio apartment, and owns only the very best painting equipment. He obviously cannot afford this on a clinic-porter's salary, so he figures out a way to, with Marion Bolam's help, blackmail former patients into paying him fifteen pounds each per month in return for his silence about their embarrassing diagnoses. The possibility that maybe he should make do with a less impressive dwelling and less extravaga

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1485
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels