This is the ninth book in the Adam Dalgliesh detective series in which the Commander is called in to investigate a murder at a prestigious publishing house called Peverell Press. The publisher’s offices are housed in an ornate Venetian Palace on the Thames called Innocent House, a building with a one hundred year old history of publishing fine books, but with a history of a murderous past. The firm is owned and run by five partners and there have recently been some changes in top management. In the past, two senior partners held the reins: Henry Peverell who has just died and Jean Phillip Etienne who retired a year earlier. Jean Pierre had passed his shares down to his son Gerard, who has now become the Cahirman and managing director. Gerard is determined to take the firm in a new direction and modernize their entire approach. He realizes that the publishing house is quickly moving on a downward path and if changes are not made, Peverell Press will soon be out of business. First among the many personnel and management changes that must be made are decisions about new office space. Much of the current profits of the publishing house are directed to maintaining the historic building in which the press operates and in which two of the partners live in separate flats. But the firm can’t keep Innocent House and continue as independent publishers. Gerard’s knows that publishing is about books not real estate, and the firm cannot continue squandering its resources maintaining Innocent House as if it were the firm. But the building has always been a symbol of Peverell Press, even scripted on their letterhead. The decision about moving to more modern facilities is an acrimonious one, but Gerard is determined to press on, despite the opposition he is receiving from the other partners.Gerard is also determined to make sweeping changes in the present staff, many who have been with the firm for years. The partners again are uncomfortable with some of the proposed changes and are concerned about the older staff who may have difficulty finding new jobs. The staff themselves know there are some big decisions to be implemented, and are anxious about their future. As a result, the atmosphere at Innocent House is covered by a sense of unease and foreboding.Meanwhile there have been some troublesome events that have served as a backdrop to the current crisis. Two authors and one editor have died in the last twelve months. And then several other mysterious incidences occur, incidents for which no one can account or explain. Illustrations for a book go missing, proofs from a book about to be published are tampered with, Lord Stilgoe on the verge of publishing his memoirs receives a disturbing letter, one of the partners’ gold pen and diary go missing and a mysterious fax is sent to a bookstore with terrible results. Although these small mysteries are investigated by one of the partners, they are never reported to the police and are never solved.When Gerard is found dead under mysterious circumstances, Commander Dalgleish is brought in from Scotland Yard to investigate. He quickly gets down to business, and one is once again impressed by his interview skills, his investigative acumen and his patient compilation of the facts. Despite a host of suspects and much circumstantial evidence, he has few facts to connect each of the suspects to the murder. But he proceeds with his slow but meticulous step by step approach, establishing and verifying the facts, separating out conjecture and theory, and providing leadership and direction to his team. This careful reasoned approach has been successful in the past, and it is due to one of his famous hunches, this time about the location of the murder, that helps to crack the case.James’ prose is filled with descriptive passages about the architecture of the buildings and the many historic landmarks of London and the Thames. And there are the usual red herrings and even a rather comic but deadly snake called Hissing Sid to keep us off the track and muddy the waters.Another great Dalgliesh mystery.
The 9th Adam Dalgliesh, this one is actually set mostly in London, which is fairly rare for the series. The setting is a firm of publishers, who have suffered from natural deaths, a suicide, a number of malicious pranks and, finally, a murder. And things don't stop there, a number of other murders follow on, generally involving attempts at being disguised as either suicides or accidents.This is an excellent novel, with one major setback. I did not find the motive convincing. The motive is essentially an extremely long-term attempt at vengeance and, while I'm sure such things do occur, I thought it lacking. I did think the manner of attaining vengeance well-thought out and very well-planned, however. The final twist was rather depressing, particularly given the fact that I think the intention is for the reader to sympathise with the murderer (which may be why I found the motive troubling). I thought some of the characters behaved in ways that were very out-of-character (third-police-officer-whose-name-I-forget in particular), which rather spoils my enjoyment of the book, as I find it very jarring to be thinking "but that makes no sense - they wouldn't do that", though it may well illustrate my inability to understand human behaviour rather than anything else.
What do You think about Original Sin (2005)?
TO THE PARTNERS OF PEVERELL PRESS...GOD ROT YOU ALL! Ominous words to the board members of the posh publishing house on the Thames. London's oldest and finest is going through a transition, one that displeases all of her employees, but especially one who has been there for decades.After hearing the history of the old Venetian palazzo, Adam Dalgliesh asks, "Do you believe that a building can be infused with evil?" The ORIGINAL SIN of Peverell Press and Innocent House was the murder of the first owner's wife. For her inheritance, the husband pushed her from the roof to her death while masking the leap as suicide. The building was built on murder!More than a century later, mysteries occur once again. With the defacement of a portrait, acid burns on the hood of a car, and anonymous letters to employees predicting their deaths, all are terrified of what will happen next. Are these events pranks or preludes to murder?The Archives of the Peverell Press store more than unpublished manuscripts. Hidden there are clues to the mind of the murderer. They will unlock the secret to the killer's motives for revenge, the need for restitution of lives lost in conflict, and will explain the symmetry of today's murders with the past.P.D. James has mined history for her character's motives and reminded readers of the continuing need to remember the words, Never Forget. Highly Recommended!
—Cheryl Kennedy
I can see why people might think this book meanders too much about things unrelated to the plot. Ms. James goes into exhaustive detail about every character who takes a part in her story, and that can be tedious to read. In this case, though, I rather enjoyed it, and felt it gave depth and authenticity to the story. The mystery was properly absorbing and difficult to unravel (at least for me). I'll admit that I was a little uncomfortable with the part Daniel plays in the resolution of the mystery. In some ways, it seems Ms. James is trying to imply that Daniel cannot separate his religion from his profession--that because he's Jewish, he has to react the way he does. It had the potential to seem antisemitic or perhaps just anti-religion (especially since Ms. James is so eager to tell us about every other character's atheism), but because his reaction was also completely understandable, I was mostly OK with it. All in all, not my favorite Dalgliesh mystery, but still very involving.
—Sophie
It's been awhile since I've read an Inspector Dalgleish mystery, probably 4 or 5 years and this book has been on my shelf for awhile. I'm glad I dusted it off. I enjoy P.D. James' writing style very much, very intelligent writing. The story was interesting and well-crafted. The book doesn't focus on any one character and Dalgleish's team of Kate Miskin and Daniel Aaron are as important to the plot as is Dalgliesh. In fact, I felt that often Dalgliesh was in the background and even more so when we come to the final chapters. The plot moves along sedately, but holds your interest and James takes her time to develop characters and the story. The ending was somewhat abrupt and left me feeling kind of angry; you'll have to read to see how it ends but suffice it to say I agreed with Kate's opinion. I will read more of James' mysteries now that I've read this one..
—Bill
