Book-of-the-Month Club

This book was a joint Book-of-the-Month Club choice in the USA, and earned RG about $20,000. Spencer Curtis concluded he had been wrong to condemn it; but she feared he might have been right.

Richard Gidez feels that this book represents P. D. James at her best. Reviewers were full of praise for this long but well-plotted novel. They appreciated its evocative descriptions of setting, its believable and...

Critics gave this book a good deal of positive critical attention, and it reached a wider audience than James's usual mystery novels simply because it was not of that genre. Many readers responded to it...

Critics received this book positively: they enjoyed its entertainment value, considered the pace good, the plot steady, the writing stylish, and the solution surprising and satisfying. It became a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. Richard Gidez insisted...

She felt that her second volume had been a failure, and this made it very hard to go on. Then Heinemann , with low expectations for sales and set back by the stark undiluted tragedy...

Since the American Book-of-the-Month Club wanted to distribute the book if publication could be speeded up, MR corrected proofs over the transatlantic telephone (then very imperfect). She found the process exhausting and frustrating.