P. D. James - Death in Holy Orders

For the reader who cherishes the classic whodunit in which a master detective matches wits with a clever killer and, through ingenious deduction, brings the villain to justice, the news here is good. For the reader who relishes a novel in which delving into the human psyche is more rewarding than solving the puzzle, well, the news here is also good. In other words, P. D. James is back, blending with her customary skill the old (traditional detective story) and the new (psychological thriller).

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Character, plot, and setting take equal part in the work of P. D. James, and never have they been in greater supply than in Death in Holy Orders. Here, within the setting of a great Victorian mansion set on crumbling cliffsa large cast of variously unscrupulous men and women is brought together in a tangle of murder, mayhem, betrayal, incest, and generally bad behavior.

The New York Times Book Review

A wonderful quality about Jamess mysteries is that the setting is as rich in character as the people.

USA Today

P. D. James is the Shakespeare of mystery writers. When scholars study the genre 200 years from now, theyll continue to marvel at her intricate language, plotting, and true-to-life characters. In short, she writes mysteries as literature. As suspenseful as it is, Death in Holy Orders is equally as impressive for the almost God-like way Baroness James creates full-bodied characters. This is another James for the ages.

The Grand Rapids Press

Jamess characterspriests, students, incestuous lovers, nearly all with dark secrets to hideare so deliciously sketched out.

Entertainment Weekly

[Death in Holy Orders] showcases P. D. James at the height of her incomparable powers. This is a superbly crafted, meticulously layered novel, and one can only hope that P. D. James will go on writing forever.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Masterful [A] superb whodunit, with [an] extraordinarily complex and nuanced plot and large cast of credible characters.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

P. D. James is a great writer at the very top of her art. Always a master of her form, in this brilliant novel she seems to transcend it as she reflects on everything from contemporary politics and religion to the uses of literature, and ultimately to the veiled mysteries of the human heart.

The Roanoke Times

The revered Ms. James has created yet another classic detective story, intelligently built and with emotional depth and brilliantly drawn characters. Ms. James has proved yet again that she is a master of the classic crime novel. Long may she reign.

The Dallas Morning News

This tightly woven but curiously expansive novel has all the elements that set P. D. James apart from even her most adroit contemporaries a grasp of contemporary social, spiritual, and psychological nuance that pushes her stories well beyond mere whodunitry.

Raleigh News & Observer

It is a pleasure to put oneself in the hands of an author who savors the challenge of creating complex, believable characters and situations. Dalgliesh, a marvelously sustained creation, remains the contemporary mystery novels most fully realized detective, a meditative, solitary man.

Memphis Commercial Appeal

FICTION

COVER HER FACE

A MIND TO MURDER

UNNATURAL CAUSES

SHROUD FOR A NIGHTINGALE

AN UNSUITABLE JOB FOR A WOMAN

THE BLACK TOWER

DEATH OF AN EXPERT WITNESS

INNOCENT BLOOD

THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN

A TASTE FOR DEATH

DEVICES AND DESIRES

THE CHILDREN OF MEN

ORIGINAL SIN

A CERTAIN JUSTICE

THE MURDER ROOM

THE LIGHTHOUSE

NONFICTION

THE MAUL AND THE PEAR TREE: THE RATCLIFFE HIGHWAY MURDERS, 1811 (with T. A. Critchley)

TIME TO BE IN EARNEST: A FRAGMENT OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Death in Holy Orders is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2001 by P. D. James
Dossier copyright 2007 by Random House, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

B ALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

M ORTALIS and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Originally published in Great Britain by Faber and Faber Limited, London, in 2001. Subsequently published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., in 2001.

eISBN: 978-0-375-41384-1

www.mortalis-books.com

v3.1_r1

for Rosemary Goad
For forty years editor and friend

In setting this story of murder and mystery in a Church of England theological college I would not wish to discourage candidates for the Anglican priesthood, nor to suggest for one moment that visitors to such a college in search of rest and spiritual renewal are in danger of finding a more permanent peace than they had in mind. It is the more important, therefore, to emphasize that St. Anselms is not based on any real theological college, past or present, and that its eccentric priests, its ordinands, staff and visitors are purely fictitious and exist only in the imagination of the writer and her readers.

I am very grateful to a number of people who have kindly helped me by answering my questions; any errors, theological or otherwise, are my own. I am particularly grateful to the late Archbishop Lord Runcie, the Reverend Dr. Jeremy Sheehy, the Reverend Dr. Peter Groves, Dr. Ann Priston OBE of the Forensic Science Service, and to my secretary, Mrs. Joyce McLennan, whose help with this novel went far beyond her skill with a computer.

P. D. James

I t was Father Martins idea that I should write an account of how I found the body.

I asked, You mean, as if I were writing a letter, telling it to a friend?

Father Martin said, Writing it down as if it were fiction, as if you were standing outside yourself, watching it happen, remembering what you did, what you felt, as if it were all happening to someone else.

I knew what he meant, but I wasnt sure I knew where to begin. I said, Everything that happened, Father, or just that walk along the beach, uncovering Ronalds body?

Anything and everything you want to say. Write about the college and about your life here if you like. I think you might find it helpful.

Did you find it helpful, Father?