The Private Patient by P. D. James Paperback Book

Details

Rent The Private Patient

Author: P. D. James

Format: Quality Paperback

Publisher: Vintage Books USA

Published: Nov 2009

Genre: Fiction - Mystery & Detective - Traditional British

Retail Price: $22.00

Pages: 368

Synopsis

Cheverell Manor is a lovely old house in deepest Dorset, now a private clinic belonging to the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. When investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn arrived there one late autumn afternoon, scheduled to have a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar removed, she had every expectation of a successful operation and a pleasant week recuperating.

Two days later she was dead, the victim of murder.

To Commander Adam Dalgliesh, who with his team is called in to investigate the case, the mystery at first seems absolute. Few things about it make sense. Yet as the detectives begin probing the lives and backgrounds of those connected with the dead woman—the surgeon, members of the manor staff, close acquaintances—suspects multiply all too rapidly. New confusions arise, including strange historical overtones of madness and a lynching 350 years in the past. Then there is a second murder, and Dalgliesh finds himself confronted by issues even more challenging than innocence or guilt.

P. D. James has gained an enviable reputation for creating detective stories of uncommon depth and intricacy, combined with the sort of humanity and perceptiveness found only in the finest novelists. The Private Patient ranks among her very best.

View descriptions at Amazon.com

Recommended

The Lighthouse
by P. D. James

British police detective Adam Dalgliesh and his subordinates cope with various personal problems as they solve a politically sensitive mystery in the...

The Murder Room
by P. D. James

Commander Adam Dalgiesh investigates a murder which seems to be tied to a dispute over whether or not to close a private museum dedicated to London's...

The Babes in the Wood
by Ruth Rendell

The mysterious disappearance of two local teenagers and their baby-sitter draws Inspector Wexford into a baffling case involving dark family secrets,...

A Finer End
by Deborah Crombie

Although P.D. James has made it to the top of American bestseller lists, she's not the only talented female writer of British mysteries who is popular...

Original Sin
by P. D. James

Adam Dalgliesh takes on a baffling murder in the rarefied world of London book publishing in this masterful mystery. Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his...

Death of a Gossip (Hamish...
by M. C. Beaton

When society widow and gossip columnist Lady Jane Winters joins the fishing class, she wastes no time in ruffling the feathers--or was it fins?--of...

Kissed a Sad Goodbye...
by Deborah Crombie

Murder is the backdrop to the personal dramas played out in this follow-up to the Edgar-nominated DREAMING OF THE BONES. As Scotland Yard detectives...

Death of a Village
by M. C. Beaton

Local constable Hamish MacBeth is a bit confused when first approached by astrologer Elspeth Grant--she seems to think that her cosy village is dying....

Dust: A Richard Jury...
by Martha Grimes

Coming in January—Richard Jury returns to the back streets and back rooms of London in The New York Times bestselling series When an old friend...

Reviews

BookLender review by Sherry on 2009-03-18 16:21:36

I quit, I could not make sense of the book and it was painful trying to finish.