"Brilliant. . . . A jewel in [James's] crown." -Pittsburg-Post Gazette

 "No one is better than James at maintaining this tension between the cozy and the frightful." -The Washington Post

"[James is] a master. . . . Nothing is as it first appears." -The Boston Globe 

"[I]intricately plotted and suspenseful.... James' clear-eyed, often sardonic prose describes rooms and people exactly as she sees them." -Providence Journal

"Elegant . . . compelling. . . . Continues the James tradition. . . . She comfortably tackles timeless concerns." -Chicago Tribune

"The ghost of literature past haunts P.D. James' newest novel. . . . The novel's pointed descriptions, its gothic settings, and its theme exploring the insidious legacies of family and class violence suggest Charles Dickens may have rested a hand on James' shoulder while she wrote this terrific literary mystery." -Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"James is a wonderful writer." -Chicago Sun-Times

"James is in excellent form. . . . [She] offers her readers intelligence, wisdom, dry humor, knowledge both deep and wide-ranging, humanity, compassion, understanding and a wonderful way with words. . . . James is one of Britain's greatest living writers." -St. Louis Post-Dispatch