To prove that the British mystery in the grand [Dorothy] Sayers line is not altogether dead, there is P. D. James's "Shroud For a Nightingale."… Mrs. James works in the old tradition. She takes all the time in the world to establish her plot, her people and her locale. False clues are liberally seeded. The author goes into the background of the characters. Some are literate in the best British tradition….

Mrs. James's style is ultracivilized, and "Shroud for a Nightingale" would be hard to overpraise. If her Adam Dalgliesh keeps up the good work, we will have a figure to take the place of the late Mr. Campion and—who knows—even Lord Peter.

Newgate Callendar, "Criminals at Large: 'Shroud for a Nightingale'," in The New York Times Book Review (© 1972 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), January 16, 1972, p. 42.