As in all her other novels, James begins Shroud for a Nightingale by sketching out the setting – a district training school for nurses. Beneath is the mental setting – a walled-in, all-female atmosphere where sexual escapades and passions, however shrouded they may be, prevail. There is subservience of nurses to doctors, students to their teachers, of women to men.
The first murder is that of a student nurse during a demonstration. Even as the cause of the death is still a point of discussion and speculations on whether it was an accident, suicide, murder or a practical joke-gone-wrong, are doing the rounds, another student is murdered. It's time for Adam Dalgliesh, James' tall, sullen, perceptive hero, to investigate. | ||
Plot & Themes Tone of story - Dry-cynical How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 80% Murder of certain profession? Misc. Murder Plotlets - cooped up in spooky house Kind of investigator Any non-mystery subplot? descript. of violence and chases - 0 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 70 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 % Crime Thriller Yes Crime plotlets: Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 40's-50's Has special powers? Yes Magical/mental powers of main character: Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - Female Age: - 40's-50's Profession/status: Has special powers? Yes Magical/mental powers of main antagonist: The antagonists are: - nazis How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters Setting Small town? Yes Small town people: - hostile, like Gomer Pyle on steroids Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths Explicit sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - impregnation/reproduction Unusual forms of death - poisoning Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |