P D James The Murder Room (2003)

     P D James The Murder Room (2003) Dalgleish visits the Dupayne Museum’s Murder Room with a friend, who regales him with his hypothesis that murder mirrors it social setting. A couple of weeks later a murder brings him back. The  Museum’s future was in doubt because the murder victim refused to sign the renewal papers for the lease.  The puzzle is relatively simple, but James hides the clues in plain sight, so that careful reading is required if you want to solve it before the solution is revealed. He was (as one suspect from the beginning) murdered to ensure the Museum would continue operating.
     I don’t read for puzzle-solving (much), but for the characters and social setting, which James as always handles superbly. She creates a believable version of late 20th Century Britain because she creates characters that inhabit that world. They are constrained by the social structure, the economics, and their own ambitions. No one is perfectly happy, but most achieve at least contentment. Dalgleish’s love life frames the story; it has a happy ending. ***