yeah..
the most important thing about genre and specifically crime fiction is the expectation...the genre of crime fiction creates the expectation that 1. a crime will take place and 2. ultimately justice will be served.
PD james goes beyond this convention at the end of the novel, we as responders feel unsatisfied.
and yeah definitely the fact that cordelia is a female..
.. but i what i find interesting is that even though we have this female in this lead role, she is constantly in need of male protection..l or rather she constantly had that paternal figure... the guy who died and gave her the private eye agency... and that old man she bonds with on the island when she opens up about her past.. (please excuse me i am terrible with names.)
point is even thought yes Pd james goes beyond the conventions, Cordelia is still um .. sorta kept in her place as a women by the paternal issue therefore making the challenge of conventions accepted by the responders..
just my 2 cents