User:Wrigley23/Cordelia Gray

Cordelia and Adam Dalgliesh
The Cordelia Gray novels are not within their own separate universe. They are a part of the same universe as P. D. James's existing Adam Dalgiesh series. The addition of the Cordelia Gray novels to the literary universe that P. D. James created with the Adam Dalgliesh novels creates a discontinuous narrative (an interlinked narrative where things change each time, but the characters and environment remain the same) that allows the reader to construct their own view of each character. Cordelia's view of Dalgliesh is different from the view of him portrayed in his own novels (and vice versa with Cordelia in Dalgliesh's novels), and with the context of both, the reader must form their own conclusion on the characters.

The Cordelia Gray novels put forth a more nuanced construction of justice than James's Adam Dalgliesh novels. At the end of An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, Cordelia takes matters into her own hands and aids Miss Leaming in the murder of her former client, Sir Ronald Callender. In The Skull beneath the Skin, two murderers escape justice through death and lack of evidence for conviction. In every one of the Cordelia Gray novels, there is a non-traditional ending. The Adam Dalgiesh novels are more cut and dry.

Within the Cordelia Gray novels, Dalgiesh is portrayed as both an authority figure and an informal mentor. Cordelia's partner, Bernie Pryde (who kills himself at the beginning of the first novel), was trained under Dalgliesh until Dalgliesh ultimately let Pryde go. At first, Cordelia resents Dalgliesh for this, but at the end of An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, she comes to respect his intellect and almost confesses to aiding and abetting Miss Leaming's murder of Sir Ronald Callender when he interrogates her. While some may say that Cordelia's defiance of a man in a position of authority over her makes her one of the first true feminist detectives, most literary critics disagree. The majority conclude that Cordelia Gray is a lukewarm example of feminism at best as at the end of An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, Dalgliesh is in a significant position of power over her.