Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Shroud for a Nightingale  By  cover art

Shroud for a Nightingale

By: P. D. James
Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $22.28

Buy for $22.28

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

P. D. James is “the greatest living mystery writer.” (People)

The young women of Nightingale House are there to learn to nurse and comfort the suffering. But when one of the students plays patient in a demonstration of nursing skills, she is horribly, brutally killed. Another student dies equally mysteriously, and it is up to Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard to unmask a killer who has decided to prescribe murder as the cure for all ills.

The New York Times called Shroud for a Nightingale “mystery at its best.”

©2002 P.D. James (P)2008 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"P. D. James is the greatest living mystery writer." (People)

"Shroud for a Nightingale [is] mystery at its best." (The New York Times)

Featured Article: The Best Cozy Mysteries to Keep You Warm This Holiday Season


We’ve rounded up a list of some of the best cozy mystery audiobooks to help brighten up your winter listening. Here you'll find contemporary and historical cozies, classic whodunits and ingenious heist stories. While varying in tone, plot, and setting, these picks all share an irresistible holiday atmosphere. You'll find snowstorms galore, bakeries full of tasty holiday treats, glittering get-togethers, and picturesque English villages decked out in their holiday finest.

What listeners say about Shroud for a Nightingale

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    256
  • 4 Stars
    113
  • 3 Stars
    44
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    243
  • 4 Stars
    67
  • 3 Stars
    30
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    220
  • 4 Stars
    86
  • 3 Stars
    30
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Surprising and suspenseful!

Narrator was wonderful. would love to hear her again. Very much enjoyed book, and definitely will read or listen to more of P D James's work. Loved this book. Hooked me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

You won’t guess who did what!

P. D. James has been among my favorite writers forever. I go back to her books, now with the additional enjoyment of Audible, and read them again and again. This is among my favorite ones.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The shroud of Nightingale

This has been an interesting journey with Dalgliesh as he sorts through the events and lives of those connect with the murders.
This writer takes one through the reality facing women attempting to strike out in the modern world .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

One of PD James' Best

A good old-fashioned mystery. I always like Adam Dalgliesh. There were a lot of other interesting characters. I was able to learn about the world of Nursing School students and instructors during that era. The narrator was excellent!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A classic mystery

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would, and have many times, recommended this book to a friend. It is a pure, classic mystery. The reader/listener is all the time being given the necessary clues and also being led down the garden path by the author. Absolutely delicious!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Shroud for a Nightingale?

There wasn't one moment that wasn't memorable. The idiot who reviewed it as

Have you listened to any of Penelope Dellaporta’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Haven't, but she is great.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes -- I listened at every moment I could and hated when it was over.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

listened as an audiobook

I see that she won awards for this book. It was excellent. kept you guessing until the very end

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Just couldn’t get into this book

I found my mind wandering while listening and never got into this book. I had to re-listen over and over to parts that I didn’t capture.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Early P.D. James is the best P.D. James

I blow hot and cold with P.D. James. She is great at establishing the characters and especially the setting of her books. They often take place in closed communities, and she is excellent at creating the atmosphere of these situations. I usually really enjoy the first third to half of her books. They tend to lose steam for me as the solution looms, especially in her later books. I prefer the earlier books, before they started getting too long and with too much of the detectives' personal lives intruding to the detriment of the plots. This book is firmly in the early camp - characters and plot are predominant.

The book takes place in a country-town hospital and more specifically in its nursing school. Always fertile ground for mystery plots and plenty of potential suspects. It has a cast of characters more interesting than most murder mysteries, all sketched well without going overboard. The plot is good, and you may or may not figure it all out before Adam Dalgliesh, James's Scotland Yard lead character. Even if you do, the writing itself is a cut well above most crime writing, and justifies reading through to the end.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another Grand P D James

Again, well written and narrated. Looking forward to the next book of Adam Dalgliesh and the crime he must solve

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

amazing plotting

PD James was the best mystery writer of her generation. And the reader was very good
.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!