I watched the BBC TV series of this in the 1980s, so the dour yet wise Roy Marsden will always be Adam Dalgleish to me. At first this book appears to promise more than it delivers, plot-wise, because we start with a serial killer and end with one murder under investigation. But there’s a surprise plot twist that no one could have seen coming and plenty of hidden motives to parse. P. D. James is a master of mood and setting, and I loved the gloomy North England coast with its quirky cottages and windmills and suspicious townspeople. Most important to the story here, however, is the environmental theme: how can people be trusted with nuclear power when they cannot even manage their own devices (in this case, motives or plots) and desires (love and sex)? The author skillfully put Larksoken Nuclear Power Plant ever-present in the background, threatening human endeavors with a potential Chernobyl and twisting and dwarfing their better natures. It’s very much a novel of its time, but also remains relevant to our climate-concerned lives.