P.D. James, generally acknowledged as the heir to Agatha Christie`s
”Queen of Crime” mantle, is a writer of much greater depth. She is to the crime yarn what John LeCarre is to the spy tale: a master at complex plotting who is able to give her characters compelling human emotions and failings.
Combining James` abilities with the estimable quality of PBS`
”Mystery!” series results in a terrifically cerebral and suspenseful six-part series, ”A Taste for Death,” beginning at 9 p.m. Thursday on WTTW-Ch. 11.
This is Roy Marsden`s fifth ”Mystery!” run as James` Scotland Yard detective, Adam Dalgliesh. He is wonderfully comfortable in the role, seeming almost as well built for his character as Alec Guiness has been for LeCarre`s master spy, George Smiley, in the PBS tales.
”A Taste for Death” begins as Dalgliesh is called upon to help a government official and old friend named Paul Berowne (Bosco Hogan) who, in a most portentously dire tone, says, ”Something`s turned up.”
That something is a series of letters that are ”a cut above the usual disgusting filth” and that discuss some deaths that have surrounded Berowne. As always with James, there are interesting subplots. Though many are implied, only one is quite apparent: the ambitions of Dalgliesh`s new assistant, played well by Penny Downie.
There are striking events: a drowning death, blood pouring from a country church`s pipe. There are strangers lurking in the shadows, sexual shenannigans swirling and even the theory of stigmata. It`s a rich mix.
The writing by Alick Rowe is first-rate. Hearing the news of her son`s death, Berowne`s patrician mother says the news prompts ”a raging thirst and a feeling of disgust that one should outlive one`s children.”
Oops, I told you Berowne dies. But because that`s the way James` book begins, I don`t feel I`m spoiling anything. By waiting until Episode 2 for Berowne`s death, the show hooks its viewers for keeps.
That doesn`t mean this is an improvement on the original novel. It just means that the ”Mystery!” bunch is thoughtful and clever when it comes to TV translation.
Having seen but the first two parts of this ”Mystery,” I eagerly await further pleasures and surprises.
