A Taste for Death, James's tenth novel, is her longest and most ambitious. Her large and varied cast of characters ranges in social class from poor waif to minister of the Crown. Characters also display a greater psychological scope, ranging from religious ecstasy to revolutionary zeal. In its range of issues, the novel seems less of an English period piece and more of a contemporary novel.

The character of Adam Dalgliesh has also matured. Dalgliesh is a rounded character who has grown older and wiser, as well as more compassionate and understanding, with each new novel.

A Taste for Death seems a much more modern novel than its predecessors.

James's themes are contemporary and portray the disintegration of society through broken marriages, extramarital affairs (and sexual infidelity. The characters obviously belong to the end of the twentieth century); those in previous novels often harkened back to...