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Devices and Desires
A beautiful new edition of one of P.D. James’s most-loved works — the ideal place to start for a reader new to P.D James’s books.
1 in stock
We are temporarily only able to ship Faber Shop orders to addresses in the UK.
Now a major Channel 5 series
‘The Queen of Crime.’ New York Times
When Commander Adam Dalgliesh visits Larksoken, a remote headland community on the Norfolk coast in the shadow of a nuclear power station, he expects to be engaged only in the sad business of tying up his aunt’s estate. But the peace of Larksoken is illusory. A serial killer known as the Whistler is terrorising the neighbourhood and Dalgliesh is drawn into the lives of the headlanders when it quickly becomes apparent that the Whistler isn’t the only murderer at work under the sinister shadow of the power station.
‘Magnificent . . . a compelling human drama.’ Evening Standard
‘Perhaps her greatest novel.’ Guardian
Perhaps her greatest novel.
Magnificent . . . a compelling human drama.
The characters are vibrant, the writing distinguished, the descriptions of the mood and landscape perfect, the ironic ending nicely cynical. And over it all, a haunting Norfolk mist of dread, loneliness and ancient history.
P. D. James at better than her best . . . so interesting are her characters, so absorbing her depiction of time and place, so rich the texture of the tale she tells . . . She has exceeded herself.
P. D. James (1920-2014) was born in Oxford and educated at Cambridge High School for Girls. From 1949 to 1968 she worked in the National Health Service and subsequently in the Home Office, first in the Police Department and later in the Criminal Policy Department. All that experience was used in her novels. She was a Fellow of the Royal…
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