A Certain Justice is the tenth P.D. James mystery with
Commander Adam Dalgliesh, one of the legendary character creations in
all of mystery writing.

Venetia Aldridge, a brilliant barrister, has "four weeks, four
hours and fifty minutes left of life." By the time her murder is
discovered, readers meet most of the suspects and even sympathize with
the murderer (or murderess). Everyone in the barrister's life, from her
18-year-old daughter to the retiring head of the law chambers, from her
former lover to the cleaning woman, has reason enough to kill. After
much examination of the past and present, Adam Dalgliesh discovers the
murderer and a certain justice results.

P.D. James was awarded the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master
Award in 1999. Like Agatha Christie, she created an urbane male
detective with an interesting dose of neuroses and affectations. Adam
Dalgliesh (named for one of her teachers) writes poetry, mournfully
misses his deceased wife and child, and seems never to fully connect
with romantic partners or colleagues. In a P.D. James mystery, the minor
figures are as interesting as the major suspects. And when she probes
the psychological and sometimes warped depths of her characters, even
the innocent reveal dark interior terrains of the heart and
mind.

James worked from 1968 to 1979 as principal administrative assistant
in London's police and criminal policy departments. She became a
full-time writer after retiring in 1979. By that time, she had produced
seven successful novels. A Certain Justice was produced as an
episode of Masterpiece Theater starring Roy Marsden as Adam
Dalgliesh.