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
- 256 pages
- 9 hours of reading
On the surface, the Steen Psychiatric Clinic has always been one of the most eminent institutions in London. But when its administrative head is found with a chisel in her heart, and a weird wooden phallic symbol in her arms, the terrifying truth begins to emerge. In the midst of an explosive mixture of psychiatry, sex, and drugs, the unenviable task of analyzing the clues falls to Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh -- clues that lead him to a diabolically cunning killer bent on proving that the first slaying was no Freudian slip.
Unnatural Causes
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
AN ADAM DALGLIESH MYSTERY Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh had been looking forward to a quiet holiday at his aunt's cottage on Monksmere Head, one of the furthest-flung spots on the remote Suffolk coast. With nothing to do other than enjoy long wind-swept walks, tea in front of the crackling wood fire and hot buttered toast, Dalgliesh was relishing the thought of a well-earned break. However, all hope of peace is soon shattered by murder. The mutilated body of a local crime writer, Maurice Seaton, floats ashore in a drifting dinghy to drag Adam Dalgliesh into a new and macabre investigation.
Shroud for a Nightingale
- 336 pages
- 12 hours of reading
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. Amongst the blackmail, lies and hastily kept secrets of the Nightingale nursing school, another student dies equally mysteriously and it is up to Adam Dalgliesh to unmask a killer who has decided to prescribe murder as the cure for all ills. In Shroud for a Nightingale, award-winning P.D. James (author of Death Comes to Pemberley, Original Sin and Children of Men) plots a complex story of secrets, blackmail and suspicion. The novel was adapted for television in 1984, with Roy Marsden as Adam Dalgliesh and Joss Ackland as the surgeon, Stephen Courtney-Briggs.
The Black Tower
- 284 pages
- 10 hours of reading
Commander Dalgliesh is recuperating from a life-threatening illness when he receives a call for advice from an elderly friend who works as a chaplain in a home for the disabled on the Dorset coast. Dalgliesh arrives to discover that Father Baddeley has recently and mysteriously died, as has one of the patients at Toynton Grange. Evidently the home is not quite the caring community it purports to be. Dalgliesh is determined to discover the truth of his friend's death, but further fatalities follow and his own life is in danger as he unmasks the evil at the heart of Toynton Grange.
An evil-tempered forensic scientist is put to death, putting many of his colleagues out of misery. Commander Adam Dalgliesh must exhume the secrets of Dr. Lorrimer's laboratory in order to lay bare the murderous motive hidden in one human heart.
A taste for death
- 528 pages
- 19 hours of reading
Two bodies, their throats cut with brutal precision, lie in a waste of blood in the dingy vestry of St Matthew's Church, Paddington. One is an alcoholic tramp; the other, Sir Paul Berowne, a recently resigned Minister of the Crown. Dalgliesh arrives to begin his investigations.
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.
An Adam Dalgliesh novel, set against the backdrop of the publishing world. Commander Dalgliesh and his team are confronted with a puzzle of extraordinary ingenuity and complexity, and a murderer who is prepared to kill again.
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.
The lighthouse
- 466 pages
- 17 hours of reading
Combe Island off the Cornish coast has a bloodstained history of piracy and cruelty but now, privately owned, it offers respite to over-stressed men and women in positions of high authority who require privacy and guaranteed security. But the peace of Combe is violated when one of the distinguished visitors is bizarrely murdered.
The Private Patient
- 352 pages
- 13 hours of reading
Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate a murder at a private nursing home for rich patients being treated by the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. A welcome addition to the Dalgliesh canon, The Private Patient could have been written by no one other than P.D. James.
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 and Other Stories
- 144 pages
- 6 hours of reading
There are four short gripping tales, which include a strained country house party on Christmas Eve and an illicit affair that ends in murder. House Beautiful
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.
