From the award-winning master of literary crime fiction, a classic work rich in tense drama and psychological insight.

On the East Anglian seacoast, a small theological college hangs precariously on an eroding shoreline and an equally precarious future. When the body of a student is found buried in the sand, the boy’s influential father demands that Scotland Yard investigate. Enter Adam Dalgliesh, a detective who loves poetry, a man who has known loss and discovery. The son of a parson, and having spent many happy boyhood summers at the school, Dalgliesh is the perfect candidate to look for the truth in this remote, rarified community of the faithful-and the frightened. And when one death leads to another, Dalgliesh finds himself steeped in a world of good and evil, of stifled passions and hidden pasts, where someone has cause not just to commit one crime but to begin an unholy order of murder… .

Praise for Death in Holy Orders

Gracefully sculpted prose and [a] superbly executed mystery … Death in Holy Orders is among [James’s] most remarkable and accomplished Dalgliesh novels. -The Philadelphia Inquirer

An elegant work about hope, death, and the alternately redemptive and destructive nature of love. -The Miami Herald

Absorbing … [James’s] plotting and characterization [are] impeccable. -Orlando Sentinel

P. D. James is in top form. -The Boston Globe

Open the exclusive dossier at the back of this book, featuring P. D. James’ essay on penning the perfect detective novel.