Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our October Challenge read of the tenth Inspector Adam Dalgliesh novel, A Certain Justice first published in 1997.

Our October read sees P.D. James set her mystery in the legal world of London.Venetia Aldridge QC is a distinguished barrister. When she agrees to defend Garry Ashe, accused of the brutal murder of his aunt, it is one more opportunity to triumph in her distinguished career as a criminal lawyer. But just four weeks later, Miss Aldridge is found dead at her desk.

Commander Adam Dalgliesh, called in to investigate, finds motives for murder among the clients Venetia has defended, her professional colleagues, her family - even her lover. As Dalgliesh narrows the field of suspects, a second brutal murder draws them into greater complexities of intrigue and evil . . .

Please do not post spoilers in this thread. Thank you.

Opening up our discussion - thanks very much to Susan for setting up our October threads.

Who is reading this book? Must say I really enjoyed it and thought it was one of the best PD James novels so far.

I'll be reading this when the book becomes available in Scribd. They say on 18th Oct. Counting the days. 😊

I finished last night and it could be my favorite James. I like the newest team member and he has a more cheerful personality than Kate and Dalglish (I imagine both of them as depressing to work with).

I only noticed the color fawn once and that was over half-way in.

Excellent story and a pleasure to read.

I've started it and is enjoying it so far. I normally enjoy legal thrillers so that is a good start for me.

Yes, I also found the new team member, Piers, fun - I suspect he would annoy me if I actually worked with him, but I enjoyed him in the book because he is so different, and the way he talks is distinctive. A lot of James's characters tend to have similar voices, but not Piers!

Normally, I am not keen on legal thrillers, but I liked this one.

I always find it interesting how she uses the first part of the book to set up all these possible motives for the murder. There is never a shortage of suspects.

I started this one last week, but had to put it on hold for a bit due to work. I'm hoping to do some catching up tomorrow. This is my first from this author.

I just finished this book and thought it was the best of the Dalgliesh series so far. In fact, I really enjoyed it. That surprised me because reading the last couple of James' books felt like dragging on and on to me.

Glad you enjoyed it, Carol. It has been one of my favourites so far too.

This was a slow go for me in the beginning but things are picking up and the plot is thickening as I'm heading down the stretch here. I agree with the point about setting up the motives for the crime.

I finished this a few days ago. It is the one I enjoyed the most in the series so far. I could never go for more than three stars for her books and was pleased that I could go one rate higher here.

This was a raw good PD James. All the characters appealed to me, even in when ghastly they were great. A genuinely good read.

I also enjoyed this a lot more than some of the previous ones. The characters were interesting, the setting was well described, and the plot was complex but not unconvincing.

I keep forgetting that these books are supposed to take place in contemporary times, as somehow they manage to maintain an older feel to them. There was so much going on in this book by the time we reached the end, I had nearly forgotten about the murder in the beginning. It almost felt like 2 books in 1. But still, one of her better outings.

Tara wrote: "I keep forgetting that these books are supposed to take place in contemporary times, as somehow they manage to maintain an older feel to them. There was so much going on in this book by the time we..."

I agree completely that the original murder got lost in the subsequent story.

I agree with both Tara's and Sandy's comments on the original murder. It was lost and what's more, the murderer, though identified, could not be brought to justice for want of proof. I enjoyed this novel more than other novels in the series, but that was a major drawback.

Great discussion, but just a reminder this is the non-spoiler thread - please can we take any more discussion of the later plot developments over to the spoiler thread?

I don't think we have had any major spoilers (must confess I'm already forgetting the plot though), just being on the safe side!

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