Death in Holy Orders
Encyclopedia
Death in Holy Orders is a 2001 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh
series by P. D. James
.
. It provides an insight into the structure of the Anglican Church and its training of students, known as ordinands, for a religious career.
is murdered. Dalgliesh is assigned the investigation, summoning D I Miskin and D I Tarrant from London to assist, as well as local officers. Initial suspicion falls on one of the fathers who run and teach at the college, as the archdeacon was known to be recommending the closure of the college.
Two more murders follow and after all present have been questioned, several skeletons are brought out the cupboard - including the fact that one of the students is unknowingly the son of one of the lay lecturers and that through his Mother, he will inherit the property, should it be closed and sold.
Forensic evidence clinches the case against the lecturer and he confesses.
The college is closed and the student inherits the proceeds.
In this novel, Dalgliesh meets and begins a relationship with Dr Emma Lavenham, a visiting teacher from Cambridge.
series of made-for-TV movies.http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/death.shtml
Adam Dalgliesh
Adam Dalgliesh is a fictional character who has been the protagonist of fourteen mystery novels by P. D. James. Dalgliesh first appeared in James's 1962 novel Cover Her Face and has appeared in a number of subsequent novels.-Character:...
series by P. D. James
P. D. James
Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, OBE, FRSA, FRSL , commonly known as P. D. James, is an English crime writer and Conservative life peer in the House of Lords, most famous for a series of detective novels starring policeman and poet Adam Dalgliesh.-Life and career:James...
.
Setting
The novel is mainly set in and around an Anglican theological college, Saint Anselm's, on the windswept coast of East AngliaEast Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
. It provides an insight into the structure of the Anglican Church and its training of students, known as ordinands, for a religious career.
Plot
Dalgliesh visits Saint Anselm's in a semi-official capacity to follow up the death of a student some time previously - his father was not satisfied with the verdict. Whilst there, a visiting ArchdeaconArchdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
is murdered. Dalgliesh is assigned the investigation, summoning D I Miskin and D I Tarrant from London to assist, as well as local officers. Initial suspicion falls on one of the fathers who run and teach at the college, as the archdeacon was known to be recommending the closure of the college.
Two more murders follow and after all present have been questioned, several skeletons are brought out the cupboard - including the fact that one of the students is unknowingly the son of one of the lay lecturers and that through his Mother, he will inherit the property, should it be closed and sold.
Forensic evidence clinches the case against the lecturer and he confesses.
The college is closed and the student inherits the proceeds.
In this novel, Dalgliesh meets and begins a relationship with Dr Emma Lavenham, a visiting teacher from Cambridge.
Dramatisation
The novel was adapted for television as part of a BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series of made-for-TV movies.http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/death.shtml