Most Popular Books by P.D. James

From P.D. James, the undisputed “Queen of Crime,”, comes a dark, twisted take on how the best revenge is served ice cold. “[The mystery] genre’s most talented practitioner ever.” —The New York Times Willing to wait decades to dispatch the bully who tormented his youth, our narrator has a plan—and the unwavering patience and brutal fortitude to enact its every chilling step. With merciless, meticulous efficiency, James takes us into the mind of a seemingly ordinary man, beneath whose unassuming guise lurks a true Machiavellian genius—for murder. An ebook short story.

Headstrong and beautiful, the young housemaid Sally Jupp is put rudely in her place, strangled in her bed behind a bolted door. Coolly brilliant policeman Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard must find her killer among a houseful of suspects, most of whom had very good reason to wish her ill. Cover Her Face is P. D. James''s electric debut novel, an ingeniously plotted mystery that immediately placed her among the masters of suspense.

Just recovered from a grave illness, Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called to the bedside of an elderly priest. When Dalgliesh arrives, Father Baddeley is dead. Is it merely his own brush with mortality that causes Dalgliesh to sense the shadow of death about to fall once more? "Splendid, macabre," wrote the London Sunday Telegraph. "The Black Tower is a masterpiece," the London Sunday Times concurred.

The second book to feature Scotland Yard investigator Adam Dalgliesh, A Mind To Murder is a “superbly satisfying mystery” (Chicago Daily News) from bestselling author P.D. James. On the surface, the Steen Psychiatric Clinic is one of the most reputable institutions in London. But when the administrative head is found dead with a chisel in her heart, that distinguished facade begins to crumble as the truth emerges. Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate and quickly finds himself caught in a whirlwind of psychiatry, drugs, and deceit. Now he must analyze the deep-seated anxieties and thwarted desires of patients and staff alike to determine which of their unresolved conflicts has resulted in murder and stop a cunning killer before the next blow.

Publisher reused ISBN from 2001 edition.

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Adam Dalgliesh series comes a compelling collection that includes An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and The Skull Beneath the Skin, featuring Private Investigator Cordelia Gray. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman introduces bestselling mystery author P.D. James’s courageous but vulnerable young detective, Cordelia Gray, in a “top-rated puzzle of peril that holds you all the way” (The New York Times). In The Skull Beneath the Skin, Detective Cordelia Gray is asked to protect an actress within the rose red walls of a fairy-tale castle—but instead finds the stage is set for death.

In this page-turning installment in the bestselling Adam Dalgliesh mystery series from “the reigning mistress of murder” (Time), the Inspector must investigate the murder of a twisted forensic scientist and explore the dark secrets within his laboratory. When a brilliant forensic scientist is found murdered in his own laboratory, Scotland Yard is called to the scene. The victim, a well-respected, authoritative member of the scientific community, was unpleasant to and greatly disliked by those who worked closest to him, leaving detectives with a wealth of suspects and murderous motives. P.D. James’ beloved detective Adam Dalgliesh is the one man who can sort through the lies, chasing down the truth to the book’s powerful climax. P.D. James deftly weaves another tale of intrigue in Death Of an Expert Witness. Engaging and thrilling, she takes readers along with her troubled detective on a case rife with psychological thrills.