Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a client being charged with murder, usually involving a preliminary hearing or jury trial. Typically, Mason establishes his client's innocence by finding the real murderer. The character was inspired by famed Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Earl Rogers.
Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park,, 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 the police commander and poet, Adam Dalgliesh.
Samuel Holmes Sheppard was an American neurosurgeon. He was convicted of the 1954 murder of his pregnant wife, Marilyn Reese Sheppard, but the conviction was eventually overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, which cited a "carnival atmosphere" at the trial. Sheppard was acquitted at a retrial in 1966.
The legal thriller genre is a type of crime fiction genre that focuses on the proceedings of the investigation, with particular reference to the impacts on courtroom proceedings and the lives of characters.
Adam Dalgliesh 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 detective, Cordelia Gray.
The Lighthouse is a 2005 detective novel by English writer P. D. James, the thirteenth book in the Adam Dalgliesh mystery series.
Roy Marsden 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 Sandbaggers (1979–1980).
Death in Holy Orders is a 2001 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series by English writer P. D. James.
The Murder Room is a 2003 detective novel by English writer P. D. James, the 12th in the Adam Dalgliesh series. It takes place in London, particularly the Dupayne Museum on the edge of Hampstead Heath in the London Borough of Camden.
Devices and Desires is a 1989 detective novel by English writer P. D. James, part of her Adam Dalgliesh series. It takes place on Larksoken, a fictional isolated headland in Norfolk. The title comes from the service of Morning Prayer in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer: "We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts".
Original Sin is a 1994 detective novel by English writer P. D. James, part of her Adam Dalgliesh series. It is set in London, mainly in Wapping in the Borough of Tower Hamlets, and centers on the city's oldest publishing house, Peverell Press, headquartered in a mock-Venetian palace on the River Thames.
Cover Her Face is the debut 1962 crime novel of P. D. James. It details the investigations into the death of a young, ambitious maid, surrounded by a family which has reasons to want her gone – or dead. The title is taken from a passage from John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi: "Cover her face. Mine eyes dazzle; she died young," which is quoted by one of the characters in the novel.
Death of an Expert Witness is a detective novel by English writer P. D. James, the seventh of her Adam Dalgliesh series. It was published in 1977 in the UK by Faber and Faber, and in the US by Charles Scribner's Sons. Set in the Fens, it follows the investigation of the murder of a senior scientist at a police laboratory where his colleagues are too experienced to have left clues.
The Black Tower is a detective novel by English writer P.D. James, published in 1975. It is part of her Adam Dalgliesh series.
A Taste for Death is a 1986 crime novel by the British writer P. D. James, the 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 was nominated for a Booker Prize in 1987. The book has been adapted for television and radio.
Shroud for a Nightingale is a 1971 detective novel by English writer P. D. James, part of 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.
Trial films is a subgenre of the legal/courtroom drama that encompasses films that are centered on a civil or criminal trial, typically a trial by jury.
Criminal Justice is a British television drama series produced by the BBC and first shown in 2008. Written by Peter Moffat, each five-episode series follows the journey of an individual through the justice system and was first broadcast over five successive nights on BBC One. The first series, first shown in 2008, starred Ben Whishaw as Ben Coulter, a young man who is accused of murder after a drunken and drug-filled night out, though is unable to remember committing the crime. It was directed by Otto Bathurst and Luke Watson. In 2009, the second series featured Maxine Peake as troubled housewife Juliet Miller whose husband was stabbed in their bed. Yann Demange and Marc Jobst directed the second series. The first series won two British Academy Television Awards for Best Drama Serial and Best Writer, three Royal Television Society Awards and an International Emmy. The first season has been re-made into an HBO miniseries The Night Of, starring John Turturro and Riz Ahmed.
David Kessler is an English author of mystery novels and thrillers. The plots of his novels often involve people falsely accused of crimes, legal battles, DNA, computer hacking and police investigations and are characterised by multiple plot twists and last-minute surprises. With the exception of A Fool for a Client, his early novels were set in Britain. His new series of books is set in the Bay Area of California and centres on a series of recurring characters including the lawyer Alex Sedaka and his paralegal Juanita Cortez. His latest series, published under the pseudonym "Adam Palmer", introduces the character of Daniel Klein, an expert on ancient Semitic languages.
