Product Description

Adam Dalgliesh takes on a baffling murder in the rarefied world of London book publishing in this masterful mystery from one of our finest novelists.

Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team are confronted with a puzzle of impenetrable complexity. A murder has taken place in the offices of the Peverell Press, a venerable London publishing house located in a dramatic mock-Venetian palace on the Thames. The victim is Gerard Etienne, the brilliant but ruthless new managing director, who had vowed to restore the firm's fortunes. Etienne was clearly a man with enemies—a discarded mistress, a rejected and humiliated author, and rebellious colleagues, one of who apparently killed herself a short time earlier. Yet Etienne's death, which occurred under bizarre circumstances, is for Dalgliesh only the beginning of the mystery, as he desperately pursues the search for a killer prepared to strike and strike again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81303 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-14
• Released on: 2009-07-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780307455574
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
The hushed mock-Venetian halls of England's oldest publishing house reek of secrets. Why did senior editor commit suicide in the archives office? And who decided to kill the managing director in the same place -- or was his death a suicide also? Adam Dalgliesh and Kate Miskin will find out, but how many more deaths will there be before all the secrets see the light of day?

From Publishers Weekly
A sprawling paean to the Thames River and its London environs, James's 12th novel and latest mystery to feature New Scotland Yard Commander Adam Dalgleish is set in the modern publishing world where traditions may crumble but where such timeless emotions as grief, rage and love prevail. Peverell Press, which occupies the magnificent Innocent House, modeled on the palaces of Venice and built by the firm's founder in 1792, has been plagued by the misdeeds-misplaced manuscripts, lost illustrations-of an unknown "office menace" since the death, nine months earlier, of managing director Henry Peverell. The stakes are upped when a senior editor, recently sacked by the new director Gerard Etienne, kills herself. When Etienne is found dead in the same room, Dalgleish is called in to investigate. He discovers that plenty of people, including the four other partners in the firm and various employees whose jobs are threatened by Etienne's plans to sell Innocent House and modernize the firm, had reason to wish Etienne dead. James (Devices and Desires) gives pride of place here to lush, leisurely descriptions of waterside London and the landscape of the Essex coast; Dalgleish and his assistants seem more observers than participants in this plot that ticks along on its own momentum, driven by the various suspects' motivations and actions to the credible, if not fully prepared for, resolution. BOMC selection; Random House Large Print edition (ISBN 0-679-76033-4); author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
After a quick detour into science fiction with her last novel, The Children of Men (Knopf, 1993), the venerable James returns to the genre that made her famous. In Original Sin, detective Adam Dalgliesh investigates the bizarre death of a ruthless publisher.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

My first James but not my last...
Not since I saw "The Sixth Sense" a few years ago has the solution of a mystery so satisfied me as P.D. James's "Original Sin". It is one of those resolutions that makes you close the book with a satisfied snap, wondering and admiring a style that can lead you to so obvious a conclusion without giving it away too soon.

Themes of sin and justice weave in and out of the plot of this mystery, which is set at a London publishing house. The publisher has been murdered, gassed to death by a fireplace accident, with a stuffed snake wrapped around his neck. Suspicion centers around the publisher's various employees and a disgruntled midlist author whose contract has been cancelled. The publisher's death comes close on the heels on on on-site suicide of a longtime employee of the firm. By the novel's end, several more corpses make an appearance, maybe one more than is necessary.

Then there's the solution. I won't say anything about it except that it has been perfectly set up, and yet somehow the conclusion is just outside the grasp of the reader's mind, giving you one of those "Of course!" reactions.

Well worth the read... I can now see why James is considered the best in her field.

Revenge or Justice?
A practical joker is afoot at Innocent House, a Venetian-style palazzo on the Thames that houses England's oldest independent book publisher, Peverell Press. This engrossing crime drama effectively plays out against the self-contained setting of Innocent House. Poison pen letters are circulating, rare illustrations are being lost, important proofs are being tampered with, and minor mischiefs abound; added to the mix is the disconcerting fact that two of Peverell Press' authors and one editor have died in less than twelve months. Then, another death occurs, this one with bizarre overtones. Is it natural death, suicide, accident or murder? Is it the work of the malicious prankster,or perhaps one or more of the various people associated with Innocent House who harbor animus against the victim? Enter Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his Special Squad.

P.D. James has written that, for her, "... one of the fascinations of detective fiction is the exploration of character under the revealing trauma of a murder enquiry." In 'Original Sin,' James deftly explores a diversity of complex characters (the directors and those among the staff at Innocent House who are central to the plot, as well as several sharply delineated secondary characters) as they undergo the sagacious questioning of Dalgliesh and his team.

Besides the splendid palazzo, James treats the reader to another strikingly effective mood-setter: the River Thames itself, arcane, enduring and somewhat sinister, the compelling secrets of its dark past forever threatening to surface before our eyes (and in one memorable scene, they do). Architectural descriptions and historical anecdotes weave seamlessly throughout the narrative, as another bonus.

Further, there is an interesting look at a small London publishing house as it evolves from the "preserve of gentlemen" (Henry Peverell and Jean-Philippe Etienne) to the present-day leadership of a 21st Century Machiavellian (Gerard Etienne).

P.D. James has expressed the view that rather than feel sympathy for the murderer, the reader should feel empathy and understanding. Here in 'Original Sin' she has provided such a murderer. It is the reader's ability to empathize that makes this murderer's motivations credible.

At its heart, 'Original Sin' is about redress. In this instance, we learn that revenge (which the killer calls "justice") is not sweet, that it sometimes requires multiple acts of murder, and that it may necessitate sacrificing the innocent. The lucky reader, however, gains this harsh lesson by way of the impeccable prose of this distinguished writer.

Another good one with Dalgleish
Original Sin, PD James' 12th novel takes place within the modern publishing world.
There's a Dickensian charm to the setting, Peverell Press on the grounds of Innocent House, built to mimic a Venetial palace in 1792 by the firm's founder. One can almost feel the damp, smell the nearby Thames, and hear the click of heels down a foggy alleyway.
When a recently fired senior editor's murder is quickly followed by that of the new director who fired her, Dalgleish is called. Turns out there are plenty of motives and plenty of suspects to keep the investigators busy - and to keep PD James' loyal readers entertained.