A Certain Justice: An Adam Dalgliesh Novel

Product Information

Crafting a classic locked-room mystery in her latest Adam Dalgliesh novel, James leads readers on a page-turning journey behind the scenes of the English legal system and along the darker, twisted byways of human intentions.

James’s nonfiction works include The Maul and the Pear Tree (1971), a telling of the Ratcliffe Highway murders of 1811 written with historian T. Subtracting from that sum there is an empty and obvious villain who is very predictable, a petulant teen, a sacrificial lamb who dies just so the bad guy is a bad guy, a **yawn** shootout, a multi-page narrative letter that over-explains everything, and a resolution to the tentpole murder that doesn't put a lid on the book.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. She had stood watching him until he was out of sight, surprised that he was leaving the house so late. But is it not overwhelmingly likely, members of the jury, that she was murdered by one of her clients, killed out of jealousy, rage, frustration, hatred or the lust to kill?

Veneta Aldridge is an unlikeable but interesting QC who specialises in criminal defence, making her an ironic but appropriate victim. Enter Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team, whose struggle to investigate and understand the shocking events cannot halt the spiral into more horrors, more murders. Once that scenario is established, however, PDJ seems to forget almost all the suspects and we barely see them again. The plot and denouement are well rounded-off, without Dalgleish being able to bring the perpetrator to justice. Her expansive investigation ranges from prewar texts to literature in postwar spy novels, to animal-themed novels in the twenty-first century.By avoiding reliance on legal jurisprudence, Lee charts how the Chinese Communist Party has become the actual arbiter of justice. Police officers are shown wearing their full blue serge uniforms and even overcoats, whereas at that time it was so hot they were allowed to wear shirtsleeves and dispense with their heavy tunics. However, you also have James' impeccable writing, unexpected depths of some characters, several extremely well drawn episode characters (especially the victim), and some excellent set-pieces (the opening court scene being a true highlight). His aunt was an unsympathetic victim and, when Ashe prompts Venetia to ask a certain question during cross examination of a witness, Venetia has another legal success and Gary Ashe is free.

A 20-page written confession, complete with a perfect rendition of word-for-word conversations and exposition, stretches the artifices of the genre to its limits, and following this by a verbal confession on which the police can't act contributes to a commonplace ending. See our Remarkables Archive for some that are no longer in print, but which we are happy to try to track down. was the money for the compulsory sale of her house, when it came through, and that was insufficient to cover her debts. D. James enters the labyrinthine world of the law, forging a deeply compelling human drama from the complex passions that lie behind both murder and justice. Soon Venetia meets her maker at the office, courtesy of a stiletto-sharp letter opener between the ribs.Black hardback(gilt lettering to the spine,two small nicks and light shelf wear on the cover) with Dj(very small tear on the edge of the DJ cover,small nicks,scratches and creases on the Dj cover),both in VGC. A successful but controversial defense attorney is found murdered, and it is up to Dalgliesh to solve the crime. He was unshaken in cross-examination, ready to say in reply to questions that he could not remember or was not sure.