Death in Holy Orders

Death in Holy Orders

First edition
Author	P. D. James
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Adam Dalgliesh, No. 11
Genre	Crime, mystery novel
Publisher	Faber & Faber
Publication date	2001
Media type	Print (hardback and paperback)
Pages	640 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	0-375-43117-9 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC	45714861
Preceded by	'A Certain Justice'
Followed by	'The Murder Room'

Death in Holy Orders is a 2001 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James.

Setting

The novel is mainly set in and around an Anglo-Catholic theological college, Saint Anselm's, on the windswept coast of East Anglia. It provides an insight into the structure of the Church of England and its training of students, known as ordinands, for religious ministry.

Plot

Dalgliesh visits Saint Anselm's in a semi-official capacity to follow up the death of a student some time previously as his father was not satisfied with the verdict. Whilst there, a visiting archdeacon is murdered. Dalgliesh is assigned the investigation, summoning DI Miskin and DI 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 secrets become known - 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 in 2003 as a two-part BBC mini-series, and also released on DVD.

Cast

(opening credits, in order listed)

• Martin Shaw as poetic bespectacled forensic detective Adam Dalgliesh
• Robert Hardy as Father Martin Petrie
• Alan Howard as Father Sebastian Morell
• Julia McKenzie as Margaret Munroe
• Clive Wood as Archdeacon Matthew Crampton
• Hugh Fraser as George Gregory
• David Calder as Sir Alred Treeves
• Janie Dee as Emma Lavenham
• Jesse Spencer as Raphael Arbuthnot
• Jeff Rawle as Father Peregrine Glover

(closing credits, in order of appearance)

• Will Willoughby as Ronald Treeves
• Tom Goodman-Hill as Eric Surtees
• John Fortune as Commissioner Harkness
• John Clegg as Father John Betterton
• Teddie Thompson as Liz Crampton
• James Curran as Parishioner
• Alex Hassell as Peter Buckhurst
• Freda Dowie as Agatha Betterton
• Emma Rydal as Karen Surtees
• Maggie McCarthy as Ruby Pilbeam
• Jonathan Coy as Clive Stannard
• Richard Huw as Dr. George Manion
• Roger Morlidge as Inspector Roger Yarborough