The lighthouse

The Lighthouse           by P. D. James

There is a small island off the Cornwall coast that has belonged to a family for centuries. They have created a fund by which the island has become a retreat for a select group of people who have high profile stressful jobs. The government is planning a type of summit meeting at the location when there is a suspicious death.

Adam Dalgliesh and his team are called in so that the can be a discrete investigation. A man has been found hanging from the railing of an old restored lighthouse. Murder or suicide is the mystery.

Here we have a type of closed community set of suspects many of who have good motives. The dead man was a miserable fellow, egotistical, selfish, and cruel.

Dalgliesh has others problems on his mind of a personal nature, as does Kate Miskin his second in command. The is one story where the third member of the team, Benton-Smith also gets a little more page time and he is a very good addition to the investigation.

As is often the case one death leads to another and climatic as well as other factors contrive to keep Dalgliesh from doing his job. His team does not let him down.

This book was dedicated to James’ husband. He was a doctor in WWII that was disabled and James took care of him for a long time.