Adam Dalgliesh
Encyclopedia
Adam Dalgliesh is a fictional character
who has been the protagonist of fourteen mystery
novels by P. D. James
. Dalgliesh first appeared in James's 1962 novel Cover Her Face and has appeared in a number of subsequent novels.
at New Scotland Yard in London, although he is introduced in Cover Her Face, as a Detective Chief Inspector. He is an intensely cerebral and private person. He writes poetry
, a fact about which his colleagues are fond of reminding him. Several volumes of his poetry have been published. Dalgliesh lives in a flat above the Thames at Queenhithe
in the City of London
and drives a Jaguar. He was described as being "tall, dark and handsome" by some women, alluding to Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen
's Pride and Prejudice
.
His father was the rector of a Norfolk
country parish. His sole family relation was his aunt, Jane Dalgliesh, whom he held in high esteem. After her death, Dalgliesh inherits, among other bequests, a converted windmill located on the Norfolk coast. Dalgliesh rose within the ranks of Scotland Yard from Constable to Commander. In his lengthy career, he has been quite astute and successful and now heads a squad of CID officers working on only the most sensitive cases.
Dalgliesh is a widower. He lost his wife in childbirth many years ago and was reluctant to commit himself ever since. His relationship with Deborah Riscoe ended because of this. During his time at St. Anselm's in Suffolk, he meets Cambridge lecturer Emma Lavenham and later asks her to marry him. The wedding takes place at the end of The Private Patient
, published in 2008.
Dalgliesh is a late example of the gentleman detective
, a staple of British detective fiction
. A number of parallels may be drawn between Dalgliesh and another contemporary fictional detective, Inspector Morse
.
and A Mind to Murder
. In Shroud for a Nightingale
he partners with Detective Sergeant Masterson. Detective Chief Inspector Massingham, moody and arrogant, is Dalgliesh's first permanent partner. Detective Inspector Kate Miskin serves with Dalgliesh and Massingham in Scotland Yard
's Special Investigation Squad. In The Lighthouse
, Miskin takes over running the investigation when Dalgliesh contracts SARS. She is still a member of Dalgliesh's team in The Private Patient
(2008).
Detective Inspector Daniel Aaron replaces Massingham when Massingham leaves Scotland Yard to succeed his late father in the House of Lords
. Aaron is presumably suspended after the events of Original Sin
; Detective Inspector Piers Tarrant is his replacement. When Tarrant is then transferred to Special Branch, Detective Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith replaces him. (Miskin has a short romantic relationship with Piers Tarrant after he leaves the Squad.) Benton-Smith, the ambitious and good-looking son of English and Indian parents, is at first resented by Kate Miskin, but they develop a good working relationship.
. Introduced in Unnatural Causes
, she is described as a very private and cerebral person, not unlike Dalgliesh himself. She is fond of bird watching and possesses a cottage
in Suffolk
and a converted windmill in Norfolk
, which Dalgliesh inherits upon her death.
Conrad Ackroyd is one of Dalgliesh's personal friends. He is a member of the Cadaver Club, a private club of crime enthusiasts featured in Unnatural Causes
as well as other novels. Ackroyd's connections in the London establishment are often an asset to Dalgliesh.
Deborah Riscoe is one of Dalgliesh's romantic interests; they first meet when a murder shakes Riscoe's home in Cover Her Face
; their relationship develops over the course of A Mind to Murder
. However, because of Dalgliesh's reluctance to commit, Riscoe ends their relationship via a letter at the conclusion of Unnatural Causes
, accepting a transfer to the United States of America.
Emma Lavenham is a lecturer in literature at Cambridge University. She and Dalgleish meet in Death in Holy Orders
, develop a relationship during The Murder Room
, and, following Dalgliesh's convalescence from SARS on Combe Island (in The Lighthouse
), decide to marry, which they do at the end of The Private Patient
.
Dalgliesh makes several small appearances in the two novels in the Cordelia Gray series, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
and The Skull Beneath the Skin
. Cordelia Gray is a private detective and runs a detective agency in Kingsly Street. Dalgliesh is asked to look into the death of Sir Ronald Callender in Cambridge and acquits Gray of any charges. Gray and Dalgliesh stayed in contact, as evidenced by the congratulations card Dalgliesh receives from Gray while convalescing after a successful operation at the beginning of The Black Tower
. Gossiping Conrad Ackroyd also remarks on Dalgliesh's being seen dining out with Cordelia in A Taste for Death
.
for transmission on the ITV
network and starred Roy Marsden
as Dalgliesh. The BBC
took over the series in 2003, and Martin Shaw
played the role in Death in Holy Orders and The Murder Room. The television adaptations have not always been faithful to the novel they dramatise, partly because they are out of chronological order.
Robin Ellis
played Inspector Dalgliesh on BBC Radio 4
in Cover Her Face and Devices and Desires dramatized by Neville Teller. Richard Derrington took over the role of Inspector Dalgliesh in A Taste for Death and The Private Patient.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
who has been the protagonist of fourteen mystery
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
novels by P. D. James
P. D. James
Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, OBE, FRSA, FRSL , commonly known as P. D. James, is an English crime writer and Conservative life peer in the House of Lords, most famous for a series of detective novels starring policeman and poet Adam Dalgliesh.-Life and career:James...
. Dalgliesh first appeared in James's 1962 novel Cover Her Face and has appeared in a number of subsequent novels.
Character
Dalgliesh holds the rank of Commander in the Metropolitan Police ServiceMetropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
at New Scotland Yard in London, although he is introduced in Cover Her Face, as a Detective Chief Inspector. He is an intensely cerebral and private person. He writes poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, a fact about which his colleagues are fond of reminding him. Several volumes of his poetry have been published. Dalgliesh lives in a flat above the Thames at Queenhithe
Queenhithe
Queenhithe is a small ward of the City of London, situated on the River Thames and to the south of St Paul's Cathedral. The Millennium Bridge crosses into the City at Queenhithe....
in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
and drives a Jaguar. He was described as being "tall, dark and handsome" by some women, alluding to Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
's Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England...
.
His father was the rector of a Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
country parish. His sole family relation was his aunt, Jane Dalgliesh, whom he held in high esteem. After her death, Dalgliesh inherits, among other bequests, a converted windmill located on the Norfolk coast. Dalgliesh rose within the ranks of Scotland Yard from Constable to Commander. In his lengthy career, he has been quite astute and successful and now heads a squad of CID officers working on only the most sensitive cases.
Dalgliesh is a widower. He lost his wife in childbirth many years ago and was reluctant to commit himself ever since. His relationship with Deborah Riscoe ended because of this. During his time at St. Anselm's in Suffolk, he meets Cambridge lecturer Emma Lavenham and later asks her to marry him. The wedding takes place at the end of The Private Patient
The Private Patient
The Private Patient is a crime novel by English author P. D. James, the fourteenth in her popular Adam Dalgliesh series.-Synopsis:In deepest Dorset, the once magnificent Cheverell Manor has been renovated and transformed into a plastic surgery, run by the famous cosmetic practitioner George...
, published in 2008.
Dalgliesh is a late example of the gentleman detective
Gentleman detective
The gentleman detective is a type of fictional character. He has long been a staple of crime fiction, particularly in detective novels and short stories set in Britain in the Golden Age...
, a staple of British detective fiction
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
. A number of parallels may be drawn between Dalgliesh and another contemporary fictional detective, Inspector Morse
Inspector Morse
Inspector Morse is a fictional character in the eponymous series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, as well as the 33-episode 1987–2000 television adaptation of the same name, in which the character was portrayed by John Thaw. Morse is a senior CID officer with the Thames Valley...
.
Partners
Detective Sergeant Martin is Dalgliesh's partner in Cover Her FaceCover Her Face (novel)
Cover Her Face is the debut 1962 crime novel of P. D. James. It details the investigations by her poetry-writing detective Adam Dalgliesh into the death of a young, ambitious maid, surrounded by a family which has reasons to want her gone - or dead....
and A Mind to Murder
A Mind to Murder
A Mind to Murder is a crime novel by P. D. James, the second in her Adam Dalgliesh series.-Synopsis:In a psychiatric clinic late one night, the piercing scream of a dying woman shatters the calm, and Superintendent Dalgliesh is called away from his literary soiree to investigate...
. In Shroud for a Nightingale
Shroud for a Nightingale
Shroud for a Nightingale is a 1971 detective novel written by PD James in her Adam Dalgliesh series. Chief Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate the death of two student nurses at the hospital nursing school of Nightingale House...
he partners with Detective Sergeant Masterson. Detective Chief Inspector Massingham, moody and arrogant, is Dalgliesh's first permanent partner. Detective Inspector Kate Miskin serves with Dalgliesh and Massingham in Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
's Special Investigation Squad. In The Lighthouse
The Lighthouse (novel)
The Lighthouse is a 2005 novel by P. D. James, the thirteenth book in the classic Adam Dalgliesh mystery series.- Plot summary :Adam Dalgliesh is brought in to investigate the mysterious death of a famous writer on a remote and inaccessible island off the Cornish coast.Combe Island is a discreet...
, Miskin takes over running the investigation when Dalgliesh contracts SARS. She is still a member of Dalgliesh's team in The Private Patient
The Private Patient
The Private Patient is a crime novel by English author P. D. James, the fourteenth in her popular Adam Dalgliesh series.-Synopsis:In deepest Dorset, the once magnificent Cheverell Manor has been renovated and transformed into a plastic surgery, run by the famous cosmetic practitioner George...
(2008).
Detective Inspector Daniel Aaron replaces Massingham when Massingham leaves Scotland Yard to succeed his late father in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. Aaron is presumably suspended after the events of Original Sin
Original Sin (novel)
Original Sin is a 1994 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James. It is set in London, mainly in Wapping in the Borough of Tower Hamlets, and centers around the city's oldest publishing house, Peverell Press, headquartered in a mock-Venetian palace on the River Thames.-Plot...
; Detective Inspector Piers Tarrant is his replacement. When Tarrant is then transferred to Special Branch, Detective Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith replaces him. (Miskin has a short romantic relationship with Piers Tarrant after he leaves the Squad.) Benton-Smith, the ambitious and good-looking son of English and Indian parents, is at first resented by Kate Miskin, but they develop a good working relationship.
Relatives, Friends, and Romances
Jane Dalgliesh is Adam Dalgiesh's aunt and his sole living relative until her death prior to Devices and DesiresDevices and Desires
Devices and Desires is a 1989 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James. It takes place on Larksoken, an isolated headland in Norfolk.-Plot overview:...
. Introduced in Unnatural Causes
Unnatural Causes
You may be looking for UNNATURAL CAUSES: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?, a documentary series broadcast on PBS in 2008.Unnatural Causes is a detective novel by English crime writer P. D. James.-Synopsis:...
, she is described as a very private and cerebral person, not unlike Dalgliesh himself. She is fond of bird watching and possesses a cottage
Cottage
__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
and a converted windmill in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, which Dalgliesh inherits upon her death.
Conrad Ackroyd is one of Dalgliesh's personal friends. He is a member of the Cadaver Club, a private club of crime enthusiasts featured in Unnatural Causes
Unnatural Causes
You may be looking for UNNATURAL CAUSES: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?, a documentary series broadcast on PBS in 2008.Unnatural Causes is a detective novel by English crime writer P. D. James.-Synopsis:...
as well as other novels. Ackroyd's connections in the London establishment are often an asset to Dalgliesh.
Deborah Riscoe is one of Dalgliesh's romantic interests; they first meet when a murder shakes Riscoe's home in Cover Her Face
Cover Her Face (novel)
Cover Her Face is the debut 1962 crime novel of P. D. James. It details the investigations by her poetry-writing detective Adam Dalgliesh into the death of a young, ambitious maid, surrounded by a family which has reasons to want her gone - or dead....
; their relationship develops over the course of A Mind to Murder
A Mind to Murder
A Mind to Murder is a crime novel by P. D. James, the second in her Adam Dalgliesh series.-Synopsis:In a psychiatric clinic late one night, the piercing scream of a dying woman shatters the calm, and Superintendent Dalgliesh is called away from his literary soiree to investigate...
. However, because of Dalgliesh's reluctance to commit, Riscoe ends their relationship via a letter at the conclusion of Unnatural Causes
Unnatural Causes
You may be looking for UNNATURAL CAUSES: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?, a documentary series broadcast on PBS in 2008.Unnatural Causes is a detective novel by English crime writer P. D. James.-Synopsis:...
, accepting a transfer to the United States of America.
Emma Lavenham is a lecturer in literature at Cambridge University. She and Dalgleish meet in Death in Holy Orders
Death in Holy Orders
Death in Holy Orders is a 2001 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James.-Setting:The novel is mainly set in and around an Anglican theological college, Saint Anselm's, on the windswept coast of East Anglia...
, develop a relationship during The Murder Room
The Murder Room
The Murder Room is a 2003 detective novel and the 12th in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James. It takes place in London, particularly the Dupayne Museum on the edge of Hampstead Heath in the London Borough of Camden....
, and, following Dalgliesh's convalescence from SARS on Combe Island (in The Lighthouse
The Lighthouse (novel)
The Lighthouse is a 2005 novel by P. D. James, the thirteenth book in the classic Adam Dalgliesh mystery series.- Plot summary :Adam Dalgliesh is brought in to investigate the mysterious death of a famous writer on a remote and inaccessible island off the Cornish coast.Combe Island is a discreet...
), decide to marry, which they do at the end of The Private Patient
The Private Patient
The Private Patient is a crime novel by English author P. D. James, the fourteenth in her popular Adam Dalgliesh series.-Synopsis:In deepest Dorset, the once magnificent Cheverell Manor has been renovated and transformed into a plastic surgery, run by the famous cosmetic practitioner George...
.
Dalgliesh makes several small appearances in the two novels in the Cordelia Gray series, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
An Unsuitable Job For A Woman is the title of a 1972 detective novel by P. D. James - and also the title of a TV series of four dramas developed from that novel....
and The Skull Beneath the Skin
The Skull Beneath the Skin
The Skull Beneath The Skin is a 1982 detective novel by P. D. James, featuring her female private detective Cordelia Gray. The novel is set in a reconstructed Victorian castle on the fictional Courcy Island on the Dorset coast and centers around actress Clarissa Lisle who is to play John Webster's...
. Cordelia Gray is a private detective and runs a detective agency in Kingsly Street. Dalgliesh is asked to look into the death of Sir Ronald Callender in Cambridge and acquits Gray of any charges. Gray and Dalgliesh stayed in contact, as evidenced by the congratulations card Dalgliesh receives from Gray while convalescing after a successful operation at the beginning of The Black Tower
The Black Tower
The Black Tower is an Adam Dalgliesh novel by P.D. James, published in 1975.-Plot outline:"Adam Dalgliesh, convalescing after a severe illness, arrives at Toynton Grange , the rest home for the young disabled, just too late to find out why his old friend Father Baddeley had sent for him...
. Gossiping Conrad Ackroyd also remarks on Dalgliesh's being seen dining out with Cordelia in A Taste for Death
A Taste for Death (P.D. James novel)
A Taste for Death is a crime novel by British writer P. D. James, seventh in the popular Commander Adam Dalgliesh series. The novel won the Silver Dagger in 1986, losing out on the Gold to Ruth Rendell's Live Flesh. It has been adapted for television and radio.- Plot summary:In the dingy vestry of St...
.
Media adaptations
All of James's novels featuring Adam Dalgliesh up to and including The Murder Room have been adapted for television, beginning with Death of an Expert Witness in 1983. The first ten novels (in the order shown below) were adapted by Anglia TelevisionAnglia Television
Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...
for transmission on the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network and starred Roy Marsden
Roy Marsden
Roy Marsden is an English actor, who is probably best known for his portrayal of Adam Dalgliesh in the Anglia Television dramatisations of P. D. James's detective novels.- Education :...
as Dalgliesh. The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
took over the series in 2003, and Martin Shaw
Martin Shaw
Martin Shaw is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in shows such as The Professionals, The Chief, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently.-Theatrical background:...
played the role in Death in Holy Orders and The Murder Room. The television adaptations have not always been faithful to the novel they dramatise, partly because they are out of chronological order.
- Death of an Expert Witness: Dalgliesh leads the hunt for an elusive strangler in the Norfolk Fens.
- Shroud for a Nightingale: Dalgliesh becomes entangled in a deadly murder hunt inside a training home for nurses.
- Cover Her Face: Dalgliesh follows a young girl and a trail of death to a beautiful country home.
- The Black Tower: A reckless move in the drugs trade turns into a dice with death for Dalgliesh.
- A Taste for Death: Dalgliesh sets up the Sensitive Crimes Squad and faces an immediate challenge.
- Devices and Desires: Holidaying in Norfolk, Dalgliesh is caught up in a series of murders when he discovers a body.
- Unnatural Causes: Dalgliesh is drawn into a macabre murder case during his investigations into a currency scam.
- A Mind to Murder: Dalgliesh is called in following the grotesque murder of a middle-aged woman.
- Original Sin: Dalgliesh discovers a body whilst investigating a series of alarming hate mail attacks on a poet.
- A Certain Justice: Dalgliesh becomes involved in the death of criminal barrister Venetia Aldridge.
Robin Ellis
Robin Ellis
Robin Ellis is an English actor best known for his role as Captain Ross Poldark in 29 episodes of the BBC classic series Poldark, adapted from a series of books by the late British author, Winston Graham...
played Inspector Dalgliesh on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
in Cover Her Face and Devices and Desires dramatized by Neville Teller. Richard Derrington took over the role of Inspector Dalgliesh in A Taste for Death and The Private Patient.