The Private Patient - (Adam Dalgliesh) by P D James (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

"[James is] a master. . . . Nothing is as it first appears." --The Boston Globe

Cheverell Manor is a beautiful old house in Dorset, which its owner, the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell, uses as a private clinic. When the investigative journalist, Rhoda Gradwyn, arrives to have a disfiguring facial scar removed, she has every expectation of a successful operation and a peaceful week recuperating. But the clinic houses an implacable enemy and within hours of the operation Rhoda is murdered. Commander Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate a case complicated by old crimes and the dark secrets of the past. But Before Rhoda's murder is solved, a second horrific death adds to the complexities of one of Dalgliesh's most perplexing and fascinating cases.

Review Quotes

"Brilliant. . . . A jewel in [James's] crown." --Pittsburg-Post Gazette

"No one is better than James at maintaining this tension between the cozy and the frightful." --The Washington Post

"[James is] a master. . . . Nothing is as it first appears." --The Boston Globe

"[I]intricately plotted and suspenseful.... James' clear-eyed, often sardonic prose describes rooms and people exactly as she sees them." --Providence Journal

"Elegant . . . compelling. . . . Continues the James tradition. . . . She comfortably tackles timeless concerns." --Chicago Tribune

"The ghost of literature past haunts P.D. James' newest novel. . . . The novel's pointed descriptions, its gothic settings, and its theme exploring the insidious legacies of family and class violence suggest Charles Dickens may have rested a hand on James' shoulder while she wrote this terrific literary mystery." --Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"James is a wonderful writer." --Chicago Sun-Times

"James is in excellent form. . . . [She] offers her readers intelligence, wisdom, dry humor, knowledge both deep and wide-ranging, humanity, compassion, understanding and a wonderful way with words. . . . James is one of Britain's greatest living writers." --St. Louis Post-Dispatch

About the Author

P. D. James is the author of twenty books, many of which feature her detective hero Adam Dalgliesh and have been televised or filmed. She was the recipient of many honors, including the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award and the National Arts Club Medal of Honor for Literature, and in 1991 was created Baroness James of Holland Park. She died in 2014.