Death in Holy Orders (Adam Dalgliesh Mystery Series #11) (Paperback)

~ P. D. James (Author)
Key Phrases: killing sand, north cloister, south cloister, Father Sebastian, Father Martin, The Killing Sand (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There are very few thriller writers who can compete with P. D. James at her best ... One of the things that sets P. D. James apart from other writers in this genre is the intellectual assurance of her work. This is manifest in her use of language - she writes beautifully - but also in the light touch with which she displays her learning ... DEATH IN HOLY ORDERS is pure pleasure." --Charlotte Joll, The Spectator


"DEATH IN HOLY ORDERS is a page-turner ... but it is also so well-written that you linger over James's beautifully-observed descriptions of characters or scenes ... More, please, P. D. James." --Rosita Boland, The Irish Times


"James transcends the crime genre, in that hers are fully evolved novels and not just murder mysteries. They are packed with argument and insight and detail." --Victoria Glendinning, The Daily Telegraph


"This is a thoroughly satisfactory, gripping and exceptionally well-written novel." --Anne Chisholm, The Sunday Telegraph


"James is a natural storyteller when it comes to pace and atmosphere." --Sarah Dunant, The Times


"Adam Dalgliesh's latest outing possesses the confident interplay of classical discipline, contemporary morality and strong evocation of place that had hitherto distinguished James's novels. Writing for the most part within the conventions of the detective story, she has again proved its constraints to be a liberating force for the creative imagination, drawing on accepted generic elements to produce a thoughtful, beautifully-written book which is far more complex than the sum of its parts." --Nicola Upson, The Observer


"This is a grand, gothic novel of gut-wrenching suspense, satisfying at all levels. (...) Here is a novel which goes beyond mere enjoyment." --Frances Fyfield, The Sunday Express


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

From the award-winning master of literary crime fiction, a classic work rich in tense drama and psychological insight.

On the East Anglian seacoast, a small theological college hangs precariously on an eroding shoreline and an equally precarious future. When the body of a student is found buried in the sand, the boy’s influential father demands that Scotland Yard investigate. Enter Adam Dalgliesh, a detective who loves poetry, a man who has known loss and discovery. The son of a parson, and having spent many happy boyhood summers at the school, Dalgliesh is the perfect candidate to look for the truth in this remote, rarified community of the faithful–and the frightened. And when one death leads to another, Dalgliesh finds himself steeped in a world of good and evil, of stifled passions and hidden pasts, where someone has cause not just to commit one crime but to begin an unholy order of murder. . . .

“Gracefully sculpted prose and [a] superbly executed mystery . . . Death in Holy Orders is among [James’s] most remarkable and accomplished Dalgliesh novels.”
–The Philadelphia Inquirer

“An elegant work about hope, death, and the alternately redemptive and destructive nature of love.”
–The Miami Herald

“Absorbing . . . [James’s] plotting and characterization [are] impeccable.”
–Orlando Sentinel

“P. D. James is in top form.”
–The Boston Globe

Open the exclusive dossier at the back of this book, featuring P. D. James’ essay on penning the perfect detective novel.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (January 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812977238
• ISBN-13: 978-0812977233
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #153,021 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intricate, Elegant Plot, February 8, 2007

By	Anita L. Ahearn (Davison, Michigan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

P.D. has once again given us an Adam Dalgliesh mystery that gathers up many threads and weaves them into a sweeping tapestry of murder and intrigue. Set on a desolate stretch of English seashore, bones often wash up from a graveyard overtaken by the ever-encroaching sea. In the C of E seminary close by the coastline, the doors of residents and guests boast no locks and expand the suspect list. James takes strands of the past and weaves its twists and turns into the present moment, where murder unravels the peace of this place of sanctuary. A quintessential James whodunit with the finely-worked plotlines and imagery we've come to expect from the Baroness.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "We live as men but we die as animals. Personally I find that a relief. I can't imagine any greater horror than eternal life.", December 27, 2008

By	Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This quintessentially British mystery, reminiscent in plot to some of those of Agatha Christie, tells an old-fashioned tale of murder and death with the murder and all the action taking place inside a closed community. One of the priests or ordinands within St. Anselm's, a small, remote, High Church seminary, is dead, and another appears to have committed a murder--or two, or three.

In this 2001 mystery by P. D. James, Commander Adam Dalgliesh, who spent several summers at St. Anselm's as a boy, returns to investigate the death of the young son of an extremely wealthy man. In short order, additional deaths occur. A Rogier van der Weyden altarpiece, a treasure trove of ecclesiastical silver, Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and other priceless art objects owned by the about-to-be-closed seminary, provide a possible financial motive for murder, while an incestuous relationship, a secret marriage, a paralyzing fear of the future, and even pedophilia by a much-loved priest are among the psychological motives.

Politeness and "civilized" behavior, despite the less-than-polite sexual perversions and fetishes of some of the characters, play a greater role here than they do in many, more "modern" mysteries. There is no graphic sex, no profanity, and no scenes of violence--just the effects of the violence. We see the priests and ordinands only within their circumscribed lives, and there are no scenes that suggest that any of them have any sense of humor--or any real fun.

Although James conveys enough psychological astuteness that her characters do not feel flat, there are at least eight or ten people who could have committed the murder. Very substantial background information is given for each of these, slowing down the "action." The reader must follow all of them, along with an equally large number of red herrings, for four hundred pages before the plot is resolved, somewhat anticlimactically. This complexity, some of it unnecessary, combined with maddeningly detailed, physical descriptions of the rooms of the seminary, made this a four-star experience for me, rather than five-star. n Mary Whipple

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4.0 out of 5 stars You can almost hear the wind howling, May 1, 2009

By	Therese D. Barry (NC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What I like best about "Death in Holy Orders" is the way the author beautifully crafted the setting. I could almost hear that howling wind and feel the creeping isolation of the setting. I like description of buildings and scenery as long as this does not overwhelm the story; the amount of description here is perfect. I also like the absence of unnecessary dialogue and explanation of character movements.

There are plenty of characters with ample motives for murder. Certainly such a plethora of suspicious activities, motives, and personal agendas all in one place is a bit of a stretch, but I did not find this at all annoying.

I am bothered by the overly sympathetic treatment of convicted child molester Father John Betterton. While this sets up Betterton and his sister as potential murderers, I remain confused as to why only the murdered Crampton seems at all bothered by Betterton's past.