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P. D. James’ debut novel, introducing her famous detective, Adam Dalgliesh. Starring Robin Ellis as Dalgliesh.
Cover Her Face is the debut 1962 crime novel of P. D. James.[1] It details the investigations into the death of a young, ambitious maid, surrounded by a family which has reasons to want her gone - or dead. The title is taken from a passage from John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi: "Cover her face. Mine eyes dazzle: she died young," which is quoted by one of the characters in the novel.
The characters
Detective Chief Inspector Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard
Detective Sergeant Martin - his assistant
Mrs. Eleanor Maxie - owner of Martingale, mother to Stephen and Deborah
Stephen Maxie - surgeon at a London hospital
Deborah Riscoe - widowed daughter of Eleanor
Mr. Simon Maxie - Eleanor's invalid husband
Felix Hearne - a former war hero and Deborah's admirer
Catherine Bowers - a guest at Martingale who hopes to marry Stephen Maxie
Dr. Charles Epps - long-time physician of the Maxies
Bernard Hinks - vicar of Chadfleet
Miss Alice Liddell - Warden of St. Mary's Refuge for Girls
Martha Bultitaft - the Maxie's long-time domestic servant
Sally Jupp - domestic servant assisting Martha at Martingale for several months.
Mr. and Mrs. Proctor - Sally's aunt and uncle who raised her after her parents were killed during the Blitz.
James Ritchie - Sally's secret husband
Literary significance and criticism
The novel was generally very well received by critics although the author later described it as her least favorite among her books.
"Her first detective story, immediately pleasing and impressive. The pace is deliberate, the characterization of the members of an English county family very well done, and the central character of Sally Jupp - a servant girl with imagination and a love of power - most unusual but compelling. Insp. Dalgliesh is perhaps too quietly competent in his disclosure of Sally's killer - and, despite the title, the girl isn't a Duchess of Malfi." - A Catalogue of Crime
In a 1966 book review, Anthony Boucher of The New York Times wrote "This is a literate and not unpromising first novel, but modeled firmly upon the detective story of 30 years ago at its dullest... When I keep urging a return to the formal detective story, this is not what I mean."
Adaptations
A television version of the novel was produced for Britain's ITV network in 1985. It starred Roy Marsden as Adam Dalgliesh, John Vine as Inspector John Massingham (instead of Detective Sergeant Martin), Phyllis Calvert as Eleanor Maxie, Rupert Frazer as Stephen Maxie, Mel Martin as Deborah Riscoe, Julian Glover as Felix Hearne, and Kim Thomson as Sally Jupp. As the television adaptation was set contemporaneously but the characters' ages had to remain unchanged, Felix Hearne's military service was relocated to Cyprus and a secondary storyline was added about Cypriot drug-dealers. It was filmed at Rainthorpe Hall in Norfolk.
BBC Radio 4 produced a radio serial, with Hugh Grant as Felix, Robin Ellis as Dalgliesh and Siân Phillips as Mrs. Maxie, releasing it on CD shortly after airing.