Words

P. D. James was one of my favorite writers until Children of Men; I didn’t care for it at all so it’s been a while since I’ve read her work. I checked out The Private Patient recently. It wasn’t one of her best, but it was certainly better than CofM.

Ms. James usually serves up a plot that brings out the puzzle solver in me, and I am in awe of her vocabulary. I know reading her books requires me to have a dictionary handy.

In The Private Patient, I found “solipsistic,” “similitude,”, “propitiate,” and “minatory”—all new to me except for “propitiate.” I know the word, “propitous” but had never seen the –iate suffix.

While the solution of the mystery was a little iffy, the vocabulary was terrific.