The Skull Beneath the Skin
Encyclopedia
The Skull Beneath The Skin is a 1982 detective novel by P. D. James
, featuring her female private detective Cordelia Gray. The novel is set in a reconstructed Victorian
castle on the fictional Courcy Island on the Dorset
coast and centers around actress Clarissa Lisle who is to play John Webster
's drama The Duchess of Malfi
in the castle's restored theatre. It takes its title from T. S. Eliot
's poem Whispers of Immortality, where Webster is famously said to be "much possessed by death" and to see "the skull beneath the skin".
and World War II
hero, to accompany his wife, the acclaimed actress Clarissa Lisle, for a weekend at Courcy Castle on the island of the same name on the Dorset coast. Clarissa has been receiving thinly veiled death threats in form of quotations from plays where she played the main role.
Shortly before the performance of The Duchess of Malfi, Clarissa is brutally murdered, leaving Cordelia and the Dorset CID
to deal with solving the crime.
Cordelia Gray is the heroine/detective of the story. The book is written mainly from her point of view.
Cordelia is the owner of the none too successful Prydes Detective Agency (named for her old boss/mentor, Bernie Pryde, who has committed suicide and left the business to her). With business in a lull, she and her two staff members, Bevis and Miss Maudsley, have been reduced to finding missing pets, at which they are quite successful.
Cordelia is hired by Clarissa Lisle's husband, Sir George Ralston, to discover who has been sending her threatening letters.
However, when Clarissa is suddenly murdered, she feels duty bound to solve the mystery of why and by whom Clarissa was killed.
Sir George Ralston
The last of Clarissa Lisle's many husbands. A former soldier, he has a 'dark' history on Courcy Island.
He is "A little over sixty", conservative, well groomed, and formal.
He employs Cordelia as a sop to his wife's insecurities, never suspecting that she has any serious enemies.
Clarissa Lisle
Clarissa is an actress with a long history of theatre work, especially in Shakespeare. Previously married three times, and through one of these marriages left in charge of a stepson, Simon Lessing, at the time of her death she is married to Sir George Ralston.
Prior to the hiring of Cordelia, she has been receiving threatening letters, consisting of verse quotations on the theme of death and decay derived from a play she had appeared in, accompanied by a crude drawing, on untraceable paper.
As a result of this intimidation campaign she is losing her nerve on stage, which threatens to jeopardise her career.
While not beautiful, she has great charisma and is described as having enormous power over men, being both seductive and manipulative.
Her personality is dominating and demanding, though fragile from the onslaught of poison pen letters.
's successor and in some ways an abler hand at characterization, has given steady proof of her mastery of the genre. She even created in Cordelia Gray a likable and credible woman investigator. Here she brings her back, but makes her act like a bewildered maiden, though she heads a London detective agency. Besides, the plot is full of unlikelihoods, including the reason for the island setting and the crime itself. - A Catalogue of Crime
P. D. James
Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, OBE, FRSA, FRSL , commonly known as P. D. James, is an English crime writer and Conservative life peer in the House of Lords, most famous for a series of detective novels starring policeman and poet Adam Dalgliesh.-Life and career:James...
, featuring her female private detective Cordelia Gray. The novel is set in a reconstructed Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
castle on the fictional Courcy Island on the Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
coast and centers around actress Clarissa Lisle who is to play John Webster
John Webster
John Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.- Biography :Webster's life is obscure, and the dates...
's drama The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi is a macabre, tragic play written by the English dramatist John Webster in 1612–13. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theatre, then before a more general audience at The Globe, in 1613-14...
in the castle's restored theatre. It takes its title from T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
's poem Whispers of Immortality, where Webster is famously said to be "much possessed by death" and to see "the skull beneath the skin".
Plot summary
Cordelia Gray is engaged by Sir George Ralston, a baronetBaronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
hero, to accompany his wife, the acclaimed actress Clarissa Lisle, for a weekend at Courcy Castle on the island of the same name on the Dorset coast. Clarissa has been receiving thinly veiled death threats in form of quotations from plays where she played the main role.
Shortly before the performance of The Duchess of Malfi, Clarissa is brutally murdered, leaving Cordelia and the Dorset CID
Criminal Investigation Department
The Crime Investigation Department is the branch of all Territorial police forces within the British Police and many other Commonwealth police forces, to which plain clothes detectives belong. It is thus distinct from the Uniformed Branch and the Special Branch.The Metropolitan Police Service CID,...
to deal with solving the crime.
Characters
Cordelia GrayCordelia Gray is the heroine/detective of the story. The book is written mainly from her point of view.
Cordelia is the owner of the none too successful Prydes Detective Agency (named for her old boss/mentor, Bernie Pryde, who has committed suicide and left the business to her). With business in a lull, she and her two staff members, Bevis and Miss Maudsley, have been reduced to finding missing pets, at which they are quite successful.
Cordelia is hired by Clarissa Lisle's husband, Sir George Ralston, to discover who has been sending her threatening letters.
However, when Clarissa is suddenly murdered, she feels duty bound to solve the mystery of why and by whom Clarissa was killed.
Sir George Ralston
The last of Clarissa Lisle's many husbands. A former soldier, he has a 'dark' history on Courcy Island.
He is "A little over sixty", conservative, well groomed, and formal.
He employs Cordelia as a sop to his wife's insecurities, never suspecting that she has any serious enemies.
Clarissa Lisle
Clarissa is an actress with a long history of theatre work, especially in Shakespeare. Previously married three times, and through one of these marriages left in charge of a stepson, Simon Lessing, at the time of her death she is married to Sir George Ralston.
Prior to the hiring of Cordelia, she has been receiving threatening letters, consisting of verse quotations on the theme of death and decay derived from a play she had appeared in, accompanied by a crude drawing, on untraceable paper.
As a result of this intimidation campaign she is losing her nerve on stage, which threatens to jeopardise her career.
While not beautiful, she has great charisma and is described as having enormous power over men, being both seductive and manipulative.
Her personality is dominating and demanding, though fragile from the onslaught of poison pen letters.
Literary significance and criticism
Nothing is more disappointing than the poor work of a good craftsman. P. D. James, hailed as ChristieAgatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's successor and in some ways an abler hand at characterization, has given steady proof of her mastery of the genre. She even created in Cordelia Gray a likable and credible woman investigator. Here she brings her back, but makes her act like a bewildered maiden, though she heads a London detective agency. Besides, the plot is full of unlikelihoods, including the reason for the island setting and the crime itself. - A Catalogue of Crime