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The lease on the Dupayne Museum is almost up and under the terms of their father's will, all three of the Dupayne children must agree to continue or the museum is to close. Neville Dupayne is dead set against continuing the museum when the money could be used for a much better purpose. One of the museum's key attractions is the Murder Room, displaying information on a series of notorious murders from between the two World Wars. When Neville dies in a way reminiscent of one of the murders on display in the Murder Room, Commander Adam Dalgleish is asked to investigate. There are any number of suspects: his siblings, several museum employees who will lose their job, his secretary with whom he once had an affair and his daughter who felt he was an absentee father. A second murder reveals some of the activities of the upper classes and the solution lies in a long-ago wrong that someone is seeking to right. Written by garykmcd
"The Murder Room," from a novel by P.D. James, is an excellent whodunit starring Martin Shaw as Adam Dalgliesh, and that's the problem right there. Though a fine actor, he just isn't Dalgliesh for me. I remember the old series starring Roy Marsden as being more exciting.
The story concerns a lease about to expire on a family museum, and there is one holdout, Neville Dupayne, who does not want to re-sign. The museum features a Murder Room, which displays information on notorious murders that took place between World War I and World War II. Neville, a doctor, thinks the money could be put to medical use.
When Neville dies in what appears to be a copycat murder of a display in the Murder Room, Commander Dalgleish is brought in. He has a lot of suspects to choose from -- the victim's brother and sister, museum employees who stood to lose their jobs, his secretary who is also his ex-mistress, and others. The solution, however, won't be found by investigating only the present day.
Though a good mystery and well-done, it was too long, in part because a subplot dealt with Dalgleish's love life, which I, for one, couldn't have cared less about. I didn't even understand why this woman was so interested in him, as the character was emotionally very uptight and a workaholic.
I found Dalgleish's relationship with his associates unpleasant, and both of them uninteresting.
I can only ask, where's Roy Marsden when you need him. He's only four years older than Shaw.