Cover Her Face Audiobook By P. D. James cover art

Cover Her Face

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Cover Her Face

By: P. D. James
Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
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P. D. James is “the greatest living mystery writer”. (People)

Headstrong and beautiful, the young housemaid Sally Jupp is put rudely in her place, strangled in her bed behind a bolted door. Coolly brilliant policeman Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard must find her killer among a houseful of suspects, most of whom had very good reason to wish her ill. Cover Her Face is P. D. James' electric debut novel, an ingeniously plotted mystery that immediately placed her among the masters of suspense.

©1992 P. D. James (P)2008 Books on Tape Detective Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Traditional Detectives Exciting Scary Suspense

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Engaging Mystery • Surprising Ending • Excellent Character Voices • Classic Detective Style • Descriptive Dialogue
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I typically do enjoy murders in the quiet English village motifs, however, at times I felt it would have been a better short prose rather than a novel. The plot dragged some and if it wasn't for the appeal of the characters I would've lost interest. I do feel that P.D. James is a great writer and that perhaps this was just a dud and I am willing to continue with the series. It's just a shame about the narrator. I can appreciate a quiet if not subdued performance as long as it doesn't hinder the pace of the plot, but, as before mentioned above it was rather dull.

3 stars

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Penelope Dellaporta reads Cover Her Face in an old-fashioned style more suited to Agatha Christie than P.D. James. In addition, when reading dialogue, she does not do a creditable job with male voices. James describes Inspector Dalgliesh as having a deep voice, yet if you didn't know what you were listening to, you might think that the voice you were hearing was that of a woman. It's hard to understand why Dellaporta was given the job of narratimg the first ten Adam Dalgliesh novels; P.D. James deserves better.

Narrator Not Up to the Job

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I enjoyed the story and the reader is excellent setting the right tone. I recommend this book

Great story

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The story is good and the characters engaging. The reader was excellent. Ran out of words

Good story

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Plot was too convoluted and meandering with too many subplots and characters that took away from the essence and main thick of the story …. Could have been edited to keep up the interest and drama .., it s tended to sag a great deal

The dignified characters…. many of them

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Reader's performance was mixed. Her voice variation largely and sadly failed. DO CHECK preview tape quality before buying. There is (on mine) a constant buzzing. However nothing can ruin the pleasure of PD James' writing ... ever.

Check Tape Quality

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the last chapter skips some of the paragraphes and you should stop the narrating and read it

the narrator in

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Not P D James' best, but even at that she is in a class by herself. Would have been helped by a better reader. Love her books and it's a pleasure to be able to listen to them. The writing is just so good.

Could use a different reader

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A riveting mystery; well read with an ending that will definitely come as a surprise.

Riveting

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Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I understand that this is the debut of Inspector Dalgleish. The plot was a bit slow, and the narrator even more so. I found listening at 1 1/2 speed to be about right. the audio sounded like it had been recorded over a phone, and there was a slight ground loop hum in the background. Overall, I wish I had read this book rather than listened to it. I should have listened more closely to sample. Even so, I plan on reading or listening to more P D James.

Would you recommend Cover Her Face to your friends? Why or why not?

I would recommend the book, not the recording.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Penelope Dellaporta?

Katherine Kellgren or Donada Peters

Do you think Cover Her Face needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I believe it has several.

A Bit slow

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