Cover Her Face: An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery: 1

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This was James’ first crime novel, debuting DCI Adam Dalgliesh who gets far less character padding or attention than the victim, suspect pool, or even his accompanying sergeant. The case involves the strangulation murder of young unwed mother Sally Jupp, who is working as a maid for the Maxie household. The 1980s Sphere Books give the impression that they might be featuring the murder weapon in the cover photo, but the murder in Cover Her Face has nothing to do with a telephone. Making a story interesting to read should be something that an author strives for surely, not simply offering repetition after repetition? It's a great book, a great mystery, filled with enough suspects and red herrings to keep the most avid mystery fan interested through the entire book.

This introduction to the Adam Dalgliesh series is a cross between an English country house mystery and a police procedural.Dalgleish is admired by his sergeant and clearly thought a Sexy Beast by the family’s attractive widow, but I never really got a clear impression of what made him such a striking figure. Registered office: WSM Services Limited, Connect House, 133-137 Alexandra Road, Wimbledon, LONDON SW19 7JY. Near Fine with slight bruising to spine ends in Near Fine dust jacket with light wear at spine ends, light indents to front panel, bubbling to laminate at front spine joint ends. In Dalgleish himself, I see the roots of another favourite detective, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, written by Louise Penny.

although, of course, if I remember anything of the Dalgleish stories I read, she tended to adopt the closed-community scenario where people were sort of stranded in time. As Mrs Maxie learns of her son’s sudden engagement, the seemingly quiet Sally seems to be involved and by morning she is dead. A very good book without inscriptions with one light staining to the front board, with some wear to the corners appears – unread. Nevertheless, a girl from among the "stumblers" (unmarried, with a baby) is accepted as a maid in a respectable estate. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged.By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. The story moves along and it looks like all of them have killed her, but in the finale Dalglish declares the murder to have been committed by. This had been a habit since his first big case seven years ago when he had looked down at the battered corpse of a Soho prostitute in silent resolution and had thought, “This is it. In this 1962 story you can see the tradition that goes back to the Golden Age of the detective story in the 1930s. I was working in London the summer of the year this book was first published but only now have I got round to reading it for the Kindle English Mystery Group.

Sally had blackmailed her uncle (who unbeknownst to her had spent her modest trust fund) into giving her 30 pounds. She admitted that she had started writing crime fiction because she thought it would be easier to have a story published in that genre before going on to produce "proper" novels.The solution is complicated by the discovery that Sally Jupp's cocoa was drugged with sleep medication on the night of the murder. She revealed Stephen Maxie's proposal of marriage for the same reason, although it is notable that she had not accepted it, and deliberately uses Deborah's mug for her cocoa on her final night. But I've seen the recent series with Bertie Carvel and I think nobody who thinks of Dalgliesh in Bertie's interpretation would consider him uncharismatic, wouldn't they? What she also captures so well, in my opinion, is the way that society was changing in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.

The novels in which he appears are peopled by fully rounded characters, who are civilized, genteel, and motivated. With classics such as Ted Hughes's The Iron Man and award-winners including Emma Carroll's Letters from the Lighthouse, Faber Children's Books brings you the best in picture books, young reads and classics. The town hall, which looked as if it had been designed by a committee of morons in an excess of alcohol and civic pride, stood in isolated splendor bounded by two bombed sites where rebuilding had only just begun. It was rather disappointing to see her new books come out over the years and know I wouldn't read them.A fine US first edition, first printing hardback - in a fine unclipped dustjacket fitted with a removable clear mylar sleeve - All my books are always securely packed with plenty of bubblewrap in professional boxes and promptly dispatched (within 2-3 days) - SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR DIRECTLY ONTO THE TITLE PAGE + ALSO INCLUDES A SIGNED PUBLICITY PHOTO - Pictures available upon request.