''Death of an Expert Witness'' 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 1977. It begins with the discovery of a young girl who has been murdered and dumped in a quarry. However, this is not the focus of the novel, but rather is used as a method to introduce the reader to the staff of a

forensic Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to Criminal law, criminal and Civil law (legal system), civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standard ...

laboratory, the background of this mystery. The actual murder of Dr. Lorrimer, an experienced

expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...

, is only discovered in the second section of the book. It is quickly established that only people associated with the lab would have the opportunity or the knowledge to commit the crime, which allows the detectives to focus their attention.

Plot outline

Scotland Yard's Adam Dalgliesh investigates the murder of forensic biologist Dr. Edwin Lorrimer. With too many motives and no physical evidence, Dalgliesh is left to deduce which among the small pool of suspects is the killer, who decides to claim a second victim.

Setting

The events take place in Hoggatt's Laboratory East Anglia, which is near Cambridge.

Notes

This is Adam Dalgliesh's second case with John Massingham.

Literary significance and criticism

A review in ''Catalogue of Crime'' noted; "Despite praise by

Julian Symons Julian Gustave Symons (originally Gustave Julian Symons) (pronounced ''SIMM-ons''; 30 May 1912 – 19 November 1994) was a British crime writer and poet. He also wrote social and military history, biography and studies of literature. He was bor ...

and others, there is less to admire in this book than in most others by this talented author. For some reason the mixture of love and lust that brings about the death of a highly disagreeable pathologist fails to attract or convince. The best thing about the book is that it brings back Supt. Dalgliesh."Barzun, Jacques and Taylor, Wendell Hertig. ''A Catalogue of Crime''. New York: Harper & Row. 1971, revised and enlarged edition 1989. In a 1977 book review, John Leonard of ''

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 ...

'' wrote "In 'Death of an Expert Witness,'

ames Ames may refer to: Places United States * Ames, Arkansas, a place in Arkansas * Ames, Colorado * Ames, Illinois * Ames, Indiana * Ames, Iowa, the most populous city bearing this name * Ames, Kansas * Ames, Nebraska * Ames, New York * Ames, Ok ...

does for a forensic science laboratory in East Anglia what orothySayers did for Oxbridge and

gaio Gaio is an Italian given name and surname, related to the Latin name Gaius. Notable people with the name include: * Aurora Gaio (born 1999), Italian racing cyclist * Federico Gaio Federico Gaio (; born 5 March 1992) is an Italian professional ...

Marsh managed for the London theater world. She fairly wallows in motives technicalities, eccentricities, venom and defeat."

Adaptation

A television version was produced for Britain's

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

network in 1983. 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, Barry Foster as Dr Maxim Howarth,

Geoffrey Palmer Geoffrey Palmer may refer to: Politicians * Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 1st Baronet (1598–1670), English lawyer and politician *Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 3rd Baronet (1655–1732), English politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicestershire *Geoffrey Pa ...

as Dr Edwin Lorrimer, and Ray Brooks as Dr Henry Kerrison.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Death Of An Expert Witness 1977 British novels Novels by P. D. James Novels set in Cambridgeshire Faber and Faber books British novels adapted into television shows British detective novels