Sally Jupp came from the village home for unmarried mothers and seemed ideal to help Mrs Maxie run a house and look after her invalid husband. But the real Sally was very different from the docile, repentant character she seemed to be. When a murder occurs, Chief Inspector Dalgliesh arrives.
Adam Dalgliesh Series
Follow Inspector Adam Dalgliesh, a poetry-loving detective, as he delves into intricate murder cases set against the backdrop of English society. This series masterfully blends the suspense of a police procedural with profound psychological insight, exploring the dark secrets lurking beneath the surface of polite life. Each installment offers meticulously crafted narratives, rich character studies, and atmospheric settings, making it a compelling read for enthusiasts of classic crime fiction.






Recommended Reading Order
A Mind to Murder
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
On the surface, the Steen Psychiatric Clinic is one of the most reputable institutions in Lindon. but when the administrative head is found dead with a chisel in her heart, that distinguished facade begins to crumble as the truth emerges. Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh pf Scotland Yard is called in to investigate and quickly find himself caught in a whirlwind of psychiatry, sex, drug and deceit. Now he must analyse the deep-seated anxieties and thwarted desires of patients and staff alike to determine which of their unresolved conflicts has resulted in murder and stop a cunning killer before the next blow.
Unnatural Causes
- 217 pages
- 8 hours of reading
Maurice Seton was a famous mystery writer--but no murder from his imagination could equal the ghastliness of his own death. When his grotesquely mutilated corpse is found in a drifting dinghy, ripples of horror spread among his bizarre neighbours: the cruel and cynical drama critic, the celebrated recluse, the rakish young heir, the terrified woman waiting for her killer in a lonely house... It is up to Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh and his extraordinary aunt to discover the shocking truth about Seton's past--before the plot takes another murderous turn.
Hailed as "mystery at its best" by The New York Times, Shroud for a Nightingale is the fourth book in bestselling author P.D. James's Adam Dalgliesh mystery series. 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.
Kriminalroman. Da Dalgliesh, som rekonvalescent, ankommer til Toynton Grange, er hans vært pludselig afgået ved døden. Andre mystiske dødsfald følger, og han må i gang med opklaringen.
Adam Dalgliesh Mystery Series - 6: Death of an Expert Witness
- 352 pages
- 13 hours of reading
Dr. Lorrimer appeared to be the picture of a bloodless, coldly efficient scientist. Only when his brutally slain body is discovered and his secret past dissected does the image begin to change. Once again, Chief Inspector Adam Dalgliesh learns that there is more to human beings than meets the eye -- and more to solving a murder than the obvious clues.
A Taste for Death
- 656 pages
- 23 hours of reading
James, the bestselling author of Death Comes to Pemberley, Children of Men and The Murder Room, explores the mysterious and intense emotions responsible for the unique crime of murder, with authority and sensitivity.
Devices and Desires
- 512 pages
- 18 hours of reading
Commander Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard is taking a brief respite from publicity on the Norfolk coast, in a converted windmill left him by his aunt. But he cannot easily escape murder - a psychopathic strangler is at large in Norfolk.
Original sin
- 560 pages
- 20 hours of reading
In London, the managing director of a stately publishing house is found dead, a stuffed snake in his mouth. The suspects are many: a rejected author, a discarded mistress, a resentful employee, to mention just a few. Commander Adam Dalgliesh sifts through their lives and the company's finances in order to find the killer.
A certain justice
- 481 pages
- 17 hours of reading
Venetia Aldridge QC is a distinguished barrister. Four weeks after agreeing to defend Gerry Ashe, accused of the brutal murder of his aunt, Miss Aldridge is found dead. Adam Dalgliesh investigates, only to find that her many enemies include colleagues, criminals, family - and even her lover.
When the body of a theology student is found on a desolate stretch of East Anglian coast, his wealthy father demands that Scotland Yard should re-examine the verdict of accidental death. Commander Adam Dalgliesh agrees to visit the young man's theological college, St Anselm's - a place he knew as a boy - expecting a nostalgic return to old haunts and a straightforward examination of the evidence. Instead he finds himself embroiled in intrigue, conflict and dangerous secrets as the college is torn apart by a sacreligious and horrifying murder.
The Murder Room
- 371 pages
- 13 hours of reading
When Commander Dalgliesh is persuaded to visit the Dupayne, a private museum on the edge of Hampstead Heath, he has no idea that he will return a week later under very different circumstances. One of the family trustees has been horribly murdered and Dalgliesh is called in to investigate.
A classic 'locked room' mystery from one of Britain's greatest crime writers
Queen of crime, PD James delivers another Adam Dalgliesh mystery, The Private Patient. The scar on Rhoda Gradwyn's face was to be the death of her . . . When the notorious investigative journalist, Rhoda Gradwyn, books into Mr Chandler-Powell's private clinic in Dorset for the removal of a disfiguring and long-standing scar, she has every prospect of a successful operation and the beginning of a new life. But the Manor holds a secret and deadly enemy. While she lies drowsily recovering from the anaesthetic a white-shrouded figure stealthily enters her bedroom and within minutes Rhoda is dead. Dalgliesh and his team, called in to investigate the murder, and later a second equally horrific death, find themselves confronted with problems even more complicated than the question of innocence or guilt. From the author of Death in Holy Ordersand Original Sincomes The Private Patient. PD James' hero Adam Dalgliesh returns to investigate. Praise for The Private Patient- 'Dagliesh is one of the great police detectives in the history of crime fiction' The Times 'Plenty of suspense' Daily Mail P.D. James is the queen of crime fiction and the author of numerous bestsellers including A Taste for Death, Original Sin, A Certain Justiceand Death in Holy Orders. She lives in London.
Related books
Der Mistelzweig-Mord
Weihnachtliche Kriminalgeschichten
Für alle Liebhaber klassischer Kriminal-Romane gibt es noch einmal Neues von P. D. James zu entdecken: vier Krimi-Kurzgeschichten, die im Laufe der Jahre für Weihnachts-Ausgaben verschiedener Zeitschriften und Magazine entstanden sind, drei davon hier erstmals auf Deutsch. Mit einem Geleitwort von Val McDermid. • »Der Mistelzweig-Mord«, die titelgebende Story, handelt von einer Weihnachtsfeier im Landhaus, die unter keinem guten Stern steht • In »A Very Commonplace Murder« geht es um eine illegale Affäre, die mit Mord endet • Und »The Boxdale Inheritance« und »The Twelve Clues of Christmas« sind neue Fälle für P. D. Jamesʼ Kult-Ermittler Commander Adam Dalgliesh, der längst in die Krimi-Literaturgeschichte eingegangen ist Diese vier Weihnachts-Krimis zeigen das ganze Können der englischen Bestseller-Autorin P. D. James, von ihrem eleganten Stil über ihre Akribie bis zum unbestechlichen Blick hinter alle Fassaden.
The Mistletoe Murder
- 160 pages
- 6 hours of reading
Throughout her illustrious career as the Queen of Crime, P. D. James was frequently commissioned by newspapers and magazines to write a special short story for Christmas. Four of the best are collected here. “Mystery lovers are in for a very merry time. . . . Will entertain and delight.” —USA Today Each of these stories is as playful as it is ingeniously plotted, the author's sly humor as evident as her hallmark narrative elegance and shrewd understanding of some of the most complex--not to say the most damning--aspects of human nature. In "The Twelve Clues of Christmas," James's iconic Scotland Yard detective Adam Dalgliesh is drawn into a case that is, in his own words, "pure Agatha Christie." In "A Very Commonplace Murder," a respectable clerk's secret taste for pornography is only the first reason he finds for not coming forward as a witness to a terrible crime. "The Boxdale Inheritance" finds Dalgliesh's godfather imploring him to reinvestigate a notorious murder that might ease the godfather's mind about an inheritance--but which will reveal a truth that even the supremely upstanding Dalgliesh will keep to himself. And, in the title story, a bestselling crime novelist describes the crime she herself was involved in fifty years earlier. A treat for P. D. James's legions of fans and anyone who enjoys the pleasures of a masterfuly wrought whodunit.
The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories
- 136 pages
- 5 hours of reading
As the acknowledged Queen of Crime, P.D. James was frequently commissioned by newspapers and magazines to write a special short story for Christmas. Four of the best have been collected together for the first time in one volume. P.D. James's understanding of human nature illuminates each of these stories, making them ideal reading for the darkest days of the year. Each treats the reader to her masterfully atmospheric storytelling, a mystery to be solved, and enjoyable puzzles to keep the reader guessing. With wry humour, she pays tribute to her English crime-writing forebears, delighting in the secrets that lurk beneath the surface at enforced family gatherings and in old country houses, from the title story about a strained family reunion on Christmas Eve, to another about an illicit affair that ends in murder, and two cases that introduce James's poet-detective Adam Dalgliesh as a young detective sergeant
Innocent house
- 64 pages
- 3 hours of reading
Every book tells a story And the 70 titles in the Pocket Penguins series are emblematic of the renowned breadth of quality that formed part of the original Penguin vision in 1935, and that continues to define our publishing today. Together, they tell one version of the unique story of Penguin. highly praised crime novels for more than forty years, and Penguin is proud to publish them in paperback. Her most famous and enduring creation is the poet-detective Adam Dalgliesh, and in Innocent House taken from Original Sin he is confronted with a suspicious death and a puzzle at a respected publishing house.











