A mind to murder
A mind to murderOne of the basic assumptions underlying any detective novel is a sense of social order. The novelist assumes that the reader agrees that killing people is wrong; it does not matter if the victims are exemplary citizens or odious individuals, it is the mere act of snuffing out another’s life that is against the social order. In P.D. James’ A Mind To Murder, Nurse Marion Bolam’s murder of her stuffy and self-righteous cousin Enid illustrates a situation where the nurse and her invalid mother had suffered from her cousin’s stinginess; James gives us a clear look at the murderer’s fear that if Enid had been given time to change her will as she had threatened to do, the Marion and her mother would never get the money to which they considered themselves entitled. However, James urges us to understand, this does not matter. Murder, for whatever reason it is committed, is still murder, and it is always wrong.
However, the murder of Enid Bolam is not the only violation of the social order which James describes in this book. Chief amongst his other villains is Peter Nagle, the young and attractive porter at the Steen Clinic. Peter is also a gifted painter, and is only working at the clinic to pay his living expenses while he waits for a prestigious arts grant to come his way. However, Peter is infected with the arrogance of those who feel that their talent entitles them to liberties unavailable to the rest of society. He lives in a magnificent studio apartment, and owns only the very best painting equipment. He obviously cannot afford this on a clinic-porter’s salary, so he figures out a way to, with Marion Bolam’s help, blackmail former patients into paying him fifteen pounds each per month in return for his silence about their embarrassing diagnoses. The possibility that maybe he should make do with a less impressive dwelling and less extravagant equipment never seems to occur to Peter because, after all, he is Peter Nagle. He has been told over and over again that he is brilliant, talented, headed for certain fame. Thus he reacts with the arrogance one would expect of such an august personage. This constitutes a disruption of the social order because Peter will stop at nothing to get what he wants, and to go where he wants to go. He takes advantage of the young Jennifer Priddy, a clerical employee at the clinic and his nude model. She is deeply in love with him, and he has no real regard for her at all. She is eager to back up his false statements -- not because she knows they are false, but because she wants to clear him of any suspicion.
As the novel goes on, however, Peter becomes more interested in Marion Bolam. Again, just as he was only interested in Jennifer Priddy for the beautiful body he could depict in...
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