The Lighthouse

P. D. James

Vintage Books, 2006 - Fiction - 383 pages

A subtle and powerful work of contemporary fiction. Combe Island off the Cornish coast has a bloodstained history of piracy and cruelty but now, privately owned, it offers respite to over-stressed men and women in positions of high authority who require privacy and guaranteed security. But the peace of Combe is violated when one of the distinguished visitors is bizarrely murdered. Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called in to solve the mystery quickly and discreetly, but at a difficult time for him and his depleted team. Dalgliesh is uncertain about his future with Emma Lavenham, the woman he loves; Detective Inspector Kate Miskin has her own emotional problems; and the ambitious Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith is worried about working under Kate. Hardly has the team begun to unravel the complicated motives of the suspects than there is a second brutal killing, and the whole investigation is jeopardized when Dalgliesh is faced with a danger more insidious and as potentially fatal as murder. This eagerly awaited successor to the international bestseller The Murder Room displays all the qualities that lovers of P. D. James’s novels the world over have come to expect: sensitive characterization, an exciting and superbly structured plot and vivid evocation of place.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - Ma_Washigeri - LibraryThing

I picked this up because I can't take any more crime books that are full of brutal murders and torture. And I guess this did fit the bill - very old style Agatha Christie with all the characters stuck ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - MinaIsham - LibraryThing

-- THE LIGHTHOUSE is a satisfying read. When a guest at an exclusive island compound is found dead three London police officers find out "who done it." A few guests have motives, & a few alibis are ...

About the author

P. D. James is the author of eighteen previous books, most of which have been filmed and broadcast on television in the United States and other countries. She spent thirty years in various departments of the British Civil Service, including the Police and Criminal Law Departments of Great Britain's Home Office. She has served as a magistrate and as a governor of the BBC. In 2000 she celebrated her eightieth birthday and published her autobiography, Time to be in Earnest. The recipient of many prizes and honors, she was created Baroness James of Holland Park in 1991. She lives in London and Oxford.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Lighthouse; Adam Dalgliesh mysteries
• Author: P. D. James
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Vintage Books, 2006
• ISBN: 0307275736, 9780307275738
• Length: 383 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Traditional; Fiction / Psychological; Fiction / Thrillers / General