''A Certain Justice'' is an

Adam Dalgliesh Adam Dalgliesh (pronounced "dal-gleash") is a fictional character who is the protagonist of fourteen mystery novels by P. D. James; the first being James's 1962 novel ''Cover Her Face''. He also appears in the two novels featuring James's other ...

novel by

P. D. James Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, (3 August 1920 – 27 November 2014), known professionally as P. D. James, was an English novelist and life peer. Her rise to fame came with her series of detective novels featuring th ...

, published in 1997. A three episode 1998 TV mini-series was made based upon the novel.

Plot summary

Venetia Aldridge is a brilliant criminal lawyer who is set to take over as the Head of Chambers in Pawlet Court, London. She successfully defends Garry Ashe against the charge of the murder of his aunt but is unprepared when her daughter flaunts her emotional involvement with him. Venetia is murdered in her office soon after her trial. Adam Dalgliesh investigates what appears to be an inside job. Things are not as simple as they seem as all the suspects appear to have unbreakable alibis. A second murder occurs later in the narrative and there is a tantalising ending when one of the "murderers" appears to confess with the knowledge that the case could never come to trial because of a lack of evidence.

Major themes

The book also explores the psyche of a pathological criminal, the moral dilemmas of the defence lawyer and the repercussions of a successful defence of a murderer on those who are alive, including the victim's survivors and the defence lawyer herself. It is also a comment on the limitations of the criminal justice system.

Reception

In a 1997 book review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', Ben Mcintyre called the book "vintage James" and summarized it as "a book in which revenge is not quite sated and deserts are not always just. That may not be the most satisfying conclusion, but it contains a certain truth."

Adaptations

A television version of the novel was produced for Britain's ITV network in 1998. It starred

Roy Marsden Roy Marsden (born Roy Anthony Mould; 25 June 1941) is an English actor who portrayed Adam Dalgliesh in the Anglia Television dramatisations (1983–1998) of P. D. James's detective novels, and Neil Burnside in the spy drama ''The Sandbagg ...

as Adam Dalgliesh.

Release details

*1997, UK, Faber & Faber (), Pub date 1 October 1997, hardback (First edition) *1997, Canada, Alfred A. Knopf (), Pub date 21 October 1997, hardback *1999, USA, Ballantine Books (), Pub date ? January 1999, paperback *1999, UK, Penguin Books (), Pub date 14 January 1999, paperback *1999, Canada, Vintage Books (), Pub date 15 June 1999, paperback

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Certain Justice 1997 British novels Novels by P. D. James Faber and Faber books British novels adapted into television shows British detective novels