A Certain Justice (Inspector Adam Dalgliesh Mystery)

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Froggart tells Dalgliesh he left the employment of Venetia’s father because the man was a sadist who bullied the schoolboys mercilessly. One boy – Marcus Campbell – took his own life because of it. That was a fun arc to play! Increasingly, Dalgliesh is aware of an emotional connection but he wants to be professional and guard himself against intimacy. He seeks out loneliness, yet there’s a thirst for companionship. He controls things with Miskin, but not callously, with sensitivity.”

Then Venetia is found murdered in Chambers, stabbed through the heart with a stiletto knife. I enjoyed this book the most because we knew Venetia's story before Adam Dalgleish, I have said before PD James's books can be difficult to follow but this made it easier. It’s now clear that in the wake of her personal tragedies, Janet moved to London to get close to Venetia. Did she hire a hitman to kill her? Dalgliesh (Bertie Carvel) is torn between poetry and policing. (Image credit: Channel 5) Dalgliesh season 2 — interview with Bertie Carvel The first part of ‘A Certain Justice’ premiered at 9pm on Thursday 4th May 2023 on Channel 5 in the UK and is streaming on Acorn TV in the US.When controversial barrister Venetia Aldridge is found dead in her chambers, suspicion falls on her colleagues and her daughter’s new fiancé.

However, as the case unravels, there’s another intriguing possibility. Dalgliesh’s colleagues find out that Garry Ashe recently proposed to Venetia’s daughter, Octavia. The sole heir to Venetia’s estate, now, everyone thinks that Garry murdered Venetia to get Octavia’s money. Dalgliesh knows that they have only circumstantial evidence, and although it’s compelling, it is not enough to arrest him yet. Pawlett Court Chambers is the sort of setting we’ve come to expect from Dalgliesh –– archaic, picturesque, claustrophobic, and featuring an elite and insular set of characters/suspects, mostly at each others’ throats. There’s even a Chapel in the complex, a recurring feature for Dalgliesh, who’s drawn to places of worship. Despite its unconventional beginning, A Certain Justice is, in most respects, patterned like the classical British mystery on which James’s books are modeled. One-fourth of the way through the book, the murder is committed, and then the detectives take charge. Their investigations uncover a great deal about the lives of everyone connected with Aldridge, but, eventually, they find out who killed her as well as who committed a second murder obviously connected with the first. In the last section of the novel, however, James abandons the traditional mystery format for sheer suspense. In “The Reed Beds,” Ashe takes Octavia to a remote area of Suffolk, where he will surely kill her if someone does not arrive in time to save her. Unfortunately, this episode results in still another killing, for which the dead Aldridge must bear some responsibility since it was she who arranged for Ashe’s release; fortunately, however, Octavia is saved.Another atmospheric episode. There are a lot of suspects with a question mark hanging over Ashe. Once again the story is very atmospheric. One of the best PD James I have read. The twist at the end is brilliant. Venetia a QC is murdered in her chambers office and there is an awfully long list of suspects. Most if her colleagues, the murderer Ashe she recently got acquitted and who has mysteriously started a relationship with her estranged daughter Octavia. As always I enjoyed Adam Dalgliesh's intelligence, composure, tact, and subtle authority. I've liked him from the beginning despite his reticence, but he certainly has grown on me over the series. He has proven time and again that he is capable of human feelings, and that the constant intercourse with the criminal world has not hardened him. He is one of the reasons that I continued with the series even when some of the books sorely disappointed me. Miskin recovers the missing paperknife. Dalgliesh questions Carpenter, Caldwell, Langton and Drysdale. Drysdale reveals that Venetia begged him to speak to Octavia, desperate to prevent her engagement to a highly unsuitable suitor. Dalgliesh, Miskin and Tarrant uncover a tragic web of association between the victims and witnesses. But time is running out to save Octavia from a terrible fate.

However, unlike the country house novelists, James also uses her setting for metaphorical purposes. Like Innocent House in Original Sin, the home of a venerable press, the Pawlet Court offices are more than an interesting and useful location for the story. In both novels, the setting represents an institution to which people have devoted their lives, an institution that is seen as being threatened by the machinations of those who have no respect for established values. Aldridge’s declared intention of making Chambers cost-efficient, without any regard for the damage she may do to human lives, represents her thoroughly modern dedication to profit and power, which clearly parallels her amoral attitude toward her own legal practice.

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James's writing is often described as "intelligent" and this novel has done immense justice for that compliment. No ordinary author could have created such an intricate murder-mystery. It was very cleverly thought and properly executed. Up to now, I've enjoyed most in the series and have appreciated her as an author, but A Certain Justice took that appreciation a step further into admiration.