Synopses & Reviews
#1 New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George offers the latest in her Inspector Lynley series: a gripping child-in-danger story featuring fan favorite Barbara Havers. Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers is at a loss: The daughter of her friend Taymullah Azhar has been taken by her mother, and Barbara cant really helpAzhar had never married Angelina, and his name isnt on Hadiyyahs, their daughters, birth certificate. He has no legal claim. Azhar and Barbara hire a private detective, but the trail goes cold.
Azhar is just beginning to accept his soul-crushing loss when Angelina reappears with shocking news: Hadiyyah is missing, kidnapped from an Italian marketplace. The Italian police are investigating, and the Yard wont get involved, until Barbara takes matters into her own hands. As she attempts to navigate the complicated waters of doing anything for the case against her superiors orders, her partner, Inspector Thomas Lynley, is dispatched to Italy as the liaison between the Italian police and Hadiyyahs distraught parents.
In time, both Barbara and Lynley discover that the case is far more complex than just a kidnapping, revealing secrets about Angelina; her new lover, Lorenzo; and even Azharsecrets Barbara may not be willing to accept. With both her job and the life of a little girl on the line, Barbara must decide what matters most and how far shes willing to go to protect it.
Review
"James has proven that she deserves her reputation as our leading 'literary' crime writer. The Lighthouse confirms that she is also the most enjoyable." Daily Express
Review
"With her trademark blend of subtle characterization, vivid sense of place and deceptively simple plot, James pulls off another triumph. A beautifully written page-turner from the queen of the genre." Toronto Sun
Review
"An elegant and perceptive writer rich drifts of prose pile up on the page, descriptive passages are Dickensian in length, ornament and power...James's many fans will relish The Lighthouse, for all its poise and narrative familiarity." The Globe and Mail
Review
"One of the most compelling books of her remarkable career....A magisterial and subtle exploration of all-too-human emotions." The Seattle Times
Review
"Appealing....Something to gladden hearts at least among aficionados of the formally perfect murder scheme....Even its murder victim is delectable....The reader...secretly thrills to the discovery of each new corpse." The New York Times
Review
"Thrilling....Tantalizing....Intense....The solution to the crime is satisfyingly elegant." The Boston Herald
Review
"James is at the height of her writing powers in describing this craggy bit of rock off England's coast so thoroughly that you can feel the wind against your face and the scrubland brush against your boots. Like Dalgleish and Miskin, you will wish you could return." The Baltimore Sun
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team are called in to solve a sensitive high profile case on Combe island off the Cornish coast of England at a time when Dalgliesh is dealing with his uncertain future with Emma Lavenham, Kate Miskin struggles with her own personal turmoil, and Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith must cope with resentment over a female superior. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 250,000 first printing.
Synopsis
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A secure and secluded retreat for the rich and powerful becomes the setting for an unsettling series of murders - Part of the bestselling mystery series that inspired Dalgliesh on Acorn TV
Combe Island off the Cornish coast is a restful haven for the elite. But when one of its distinguished visitors is found hanging from the island's famous lighthouse in what appears to have been a murder, the peace is shattered. Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called in to handle the sensitive case, but at a difficult time for him and his depleted team. He is uncertain about his future with his girlfriend Emma Lavenham; his principle detective Kate Miskin is going through an emotional crisis; and the ambitious Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith is not happy about having a female boss. After a second brutal killing, the whole investigation is jeopardized, and Dalgliesh is faced with a danger even more insidious than murder.
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
A secure and secluded retreat for the rich and powerful becomes of the setting for an unsettling series of murders.
Combe Island off the Cornish coast is a restful haven for the elite. But when one of its distinguished visitors is found hanging from the island's famous lighthouse in what appears to have been a murder, the peace is shattered. Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called in to handle the sensitive case, but at a difficult time for him and his depleted team. He is uncertain about his future with his girlfriend Emma Lavenham; his principle detective Kate Miskin is going through an emotional crisis; and the ambitious Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith is not happy about having a female boss. After a second brutal killing, the whole investigation is jeopardized, and Dalgliesh is faced with a danger even more insidious than murder.
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
#1 New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George delivers another masterpiece of suspense in her Inspector Lynley series: a gripping child-in-danger story that tests Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers like never before.
Barbara is at a loss: The daughter of her friend Taymullah Azhar has been taken by her mother, and Barbara cant really helpAzhar had never married Angelina, and his name isnt on Hadiyyahs, their daughters, birth certificate. He has no legal claim. Azhar and Barbara hire a private detective, but the trail goes cold.
Azhar is just beginning to accept his soul-crushing loss when Angelina reappears with shocking news: Hadiyyah is missing, kidnapped from an Italian marketplace. The Italian police are investigating, and the Yard wont get involved, until Barbara takes matters into her own hands at the risk of her own career.
As both Barbara and her partner, Inspector Thomas Lynley, soon discover, the case is far more complex than a typical kidnapping, revealing secrets that could have far-reaching effects outside of the investigation. With both her job and the life of a little girl on the line, Barbara must decide what matters most, and how far shes willing to go to protect it.
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.
Reading Group Guide
1. Early on, we are given psychological profiles of three main characters who have figured in earlier James novels: Adam Dalgliesh, Kate Miskin, and Francis Benton-Smith. How are these three different in their family backgrounds, and how are they similar in temperament? What do they have in common? How are they each well adapted to the requirements of their profession?
2. Whom would you consider the main character in the story? Does the narrative style cause you to identify with a single main character, or does it give equal access to the minds of all characters? Is Dalgliesh more emotionally remote than Kate? Is Kate the person with whom the reader is most closely engaged? Among the islanders and visitors, which characters are most likable?
3. Kates unexpected romantic liaison with Piers Tarrant is mentioned early in the novel; later she comes to recognize that her love for Adam Dalgliesh is hopeless. Dalglieshs love for Emma and his inability to spend time with her cause him a great deal of anxiety throughout the story. The romance plot for Jamess main characters is always subordinate to a more urgent crime plot. What are the effects of these subplots on the reader?
4. Nathan Oliver is noted, in book 1, chapter 3, to have aged prematurely: “Something—was it confidence, arrogance, hope?—had seeped out of him. . . . What was wrong with the man? He was only sixty-eight, hardly more than late middle-aged by modern reckoning, but he looked over eighty” [p. 52]. Oliver is outraged at the loss of his blood sample [p. 50], and Emily Holcombe wonders whether he might be going mad [p. 35]. Why does James raise so many questions about Olivers physical and psychological state before the reader learns that he is dead? What does his recurrent dream suggest [p. 82]? Does this dream, as well as Olivers reaction to it, present a case for suicide?
5. In the opening chapters leading up to the first murder, James provides careful background histories for all of the characters on the island. Which characters seem to have the strongest motives for murdering Nathan Oliver? Are there any characters that can be ruled out immediately?
6. Oliver is drawn as a monster of selfishness who has been ruthless about using and discarding other people according to his own needs. He intends to disinherit Miranda and to fire Tremlett if they persist in their intention to marry, even though they intend to continue in his service as they have in the past. Tremlett tells Miranda, “He wont let us go. He wont let our happiness upset his whole life, the way he lives, how he works, what hes used to” [pp. 59-60]. Yet Oliver, who is so completely lacking in human empathy, is a great novelist. Tremlett says, “Hes a conduit. Emotion flows through him. He can describe but he cant feel, not for other people” [p. 60]. Is it possible to simultaneously be a great artist and a monstrous human being? How can the two qualities coexist in one person?
7. The widower Rupert Maycroft seems overwhelmed by the responsibilities he faces as administrator of the Combe Island Trust once Nathan Oliver is found murdered. The doctor Guy Staveley also faces an enormous challenge in having to tend to two patients with SARS. Why are these men so timid in terms of their own abilities, and how do they perform under pressure? Is the crisis on the island ultimately good for both of them?
8. As the plot proceeds, are all the clues provided to make it possible to guess or deduce the killer? If so, at what point is it possible, and on what grounds?
9. P. D. Jamess love of English poetry and literature comes across in her frequent quoting of such writers as John Donne [p. 59], Virginia Woolf [p. 134], and others. How does this receptivity to poetic language make itself felt in her narrative style and descriptive language?
10. What social or personal crimes have resulted in destroying the lives of Daniel Padgett, Millie Tranter, and Adrian Boyde? How do these characters shed light on enduring problems in contemporary society?
11. In addition to the fearful aspects of her murder plot, James brings in another contemporary anxiety when Adam Dalgliesh contracts a life-threatening case of SARS from Dr. Speidel. Discuss how this detail, along with others, allows the story—a fiction set on a remote island—to remind us of the dangers of life in the real world.
12. In P. D. Jamess novels, the setting is usually of great importance in creating a mood as well as in providing plot details. What mood does the setting of Combe Island provide in The Lighthouse? Does the island provide, eventually, a healing and restorative function for various characters? For the three highly stressed detectives of the story, what are the positive and negative effects of their stay on Combe?
13. James seems to be interested in people who are so consumed by their work—and are indeed so good at their work—that their intimate relationships suffer accordingly. Which of the characters in the novel would you include in this category, and is there hope that this imbalance between love and work can be resolved for them?
14. What are the most admirable qualities of Kate Miskin, Francis Benton-Smith, and Adam Dalgliesh? Do Kate and Francis seem to have the skill, talent, and sensibility that have allowed Dalgliesh to rise to the top of his profession? Is Kate the real heroine of the story?
15. How does the ending reflect upon the romance between Adam Dalgliesh and Emma Lavenham? What steps might be taken in the next novel?
16. What temperamental qualities do Daniel Padgett and Nathan Oliver have in common? Do these qualities create a sort of family resemblance between the father and his unacknowledged son?
17. James has written, “The classical detective story is rather like the modern morality play. It can provide catharsis, a means by which both writer and reader exorcise irrational feelings of anxiety or guilt. The basic moral premise, the sanctity of life, is also an attraction as is the solution of the plot at the end of the book. The classical detective story affirms our belief that we live in a rational and generally benevolent universe.” In what ways do you see James as a writer of “the classical detective story,” and in what ways does she not fit this model? Is James a believer in “a generally benevolent universe,” or is her vision of society a darker one?
“One of the most compelling books of her remarkable career. . . . A magisterial and subtle exploration of all-too-human emotions.”
—The Seattle Times
The introduction, discussion questions, suggested reading list, and author biography that follow are intended to enhance your groups discussion of P. D. Jamess The Lighthouse, the latest contribution to the Adam Dalgliesh series by one of the worlds great masters of crime fiction.