Death of an Expert Witness [Paperback]

P.D. James (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Warner Books (1996)
• ASIN: B00162G9KQ
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

More About the Author

P. D. James is the author of twenty previous books, most of which have been filmed and broadcast on television in the United States and other countries. She spent thirty years in various departments of the British Civil Service, including the Police and Criminal Law Departments of Great Britain's Home Office. She has served as a magistrate and as a governor of the BBC. In 2000 she celebrated her eightieth birthday and published her autobiography, Time to Be in Earnest. The recipient of many prizes and honors, she was created Baroness James of Holland Park in 1991 and was inducted into the International Crime Writing Hall of Fame in 2008. She lives in London and Oxford.

Photo credit Ulla Montan

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to sit up with all night, November 3, 2002

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Death of an Expert Witness (Adam Dalgliesh) (Paperback)

P.D. James' work occasionally collapses under its own weight as the author strains to combine psychological novel with crafty murder mystery--but DEATH OF AN EXPERT WITNESS shows the writer at her best, creating a memorable setting in rural England, a host of very believable characters, and a complex plot, with all aspects of the work coming together in seamless fashion.

Dr. Lorrimer is a forensic scientist employed at a police laboratory, well respected by the scientific community and a bastion of authority in the witness box. Unfortunately, he is also a singularly unpleasant man: bitter at being passed over for promotion, petty in his dealings with underlings, vindictive in his personal relationships. So it is hardly surprising when he is murdered--but the circumstances are something of a shock: he is clubbed to death in the middle of his own laboratory, a situation that seems to indicate one or more of his co-workers is involved. And Chief Inspector Dalgliesh has an abundance of suspects from which to select.

James' detective Dalgliesh is a rather dour creation, and in some James novels he can become a tiresome companion--but here James balances his darkness against the demands of the overall novel to considerable effect. The result is a stylish, atmospheric work with an intelligent plot and a satisfying conclusion--a book to keep mystery fans sitting up all night. Recommended.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who can resist Adam Dalgleish?, May 2, 2005

By 

Laurie Fletcher "Laurie Fletcher" (Casper, Wyoming, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Death of an Expert Witness (Adam Dalgliesh) (Paperback)

This is an old P.D. James that I had somehow missed when I read her continuously in the mid-1990s. Although I love the James character Cordelia Gray, who appears in all of the "Unsuitable Job for a Woman"-type mysteries, my favorite James character is Inspector Dalgliesh. Since BBC/PBS did a series of "Mystery" episodes years ago based on the Dalgliesh character, I have him firmly fixed in my mind as the troubled Inspector (aren't they all?) who is also a brilliant poet and lover of all things fine in life. This book is a Dalgliesh book, not his best (that would be "A Taste for Death" or perhaps "Shroud for a Nightingale"), but even the worst Dalgliesh (I can't think of one) would be better than the best of most other people. This one takes place at a forensic laboratory where criminal and other evidence is processed and gives us a bit of a glimpse into how the Brits do Crime Scene Investigation (CSI). These are country people, not slick American city types, and that's OK. The countryside hides lots of interesting characters who have all sorts of motivations. Keep in mind that this was first published in 1986 and the world has changed rather tremendously since then!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good detective story., November 27, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death of an Expert Witness (Adam Dalgliesh Mystery Series #6) (Paperback)

The first 60-65 pages were difficult to get through, because the main character is absent from them. When he does enter, Inspector Dalgleish is not developed nearly as much as he is in other books. We learn very little about him in this book. On the other hand, the search for the murderer is straighforward and interesting. There was the sense that enough clues were provided to the reader to identify the guilty party.