 First edition | |
| Author | P. D. James |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Adam Dalgliesh #5 |
| Genre | Crime, mystery |
| Publisher | Faber and Faber |
Publication date | 1975 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Preceded by | Shroud for a Nightingale |
| Followed by | Death of an Expert Witness |
The Black Tower is a 1975 detective novel by English writer P.D. James, the fifth book in her Adam Dalgliesh series.
Adam Dalgliesh, recovering from suspected leukaemia, is tired of death, and goes to the Toynton Grange care home to see an old friend. But his friend has recently died—apparently of natural causes—and there has been another death in the community, an apparent suicide. Dalgliesh begins to wonder if everything is really just as it seems, and his detective instincts begin to drive him, almost against his will. Two more deaths occur, one a suicide that many people feel is unlikely, the other an unexpected death that requires the coroner to become involved. It is only in the final chapters that Adam Dalgleish figures out the dark secret behind the supposedly innocent care home.
In a 1975 book review, Newgate Callandar of The New York Times wrote "James is an exceedingly good writer, and her detective, Adam Dalgliesh, is one of the more unusual ones in action today. Nevertheless, 'The Black Tower' is so slow-moving that it will try the patience of most readers — and that has to be the besetting sin of a crime novel." [1]
It was produced for television by Anglia Television (now ITV Anglia) and released in the United Kingdom in 1985 as a mini-series with Roy Marsden in the role of Dalgliesh. The main filming location was Clavell Tower in Kimmeridge Bay, Swanage, Dorset.[ citation needed ]
Another adaptation with Bertie Carvel in the title role was part of the 2021 Channel 5 miniseries Dalgliesh.
Phyllis Dorothy James White, 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.
John Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published using the pseudonyms Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn.
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman is the title of a detective novel by English writer P. D. James and of a TV series of four dramas developed from that novel. It was published by Faber and Faber in the UK in 1972 and by Charles Scribner's Sons in the US.
Cordelia Gray is a fictional character created by English author Phyllis D. James. Gray is the protagonist of two novels, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1972) and of The Skull Beneath the Skin (1982). Cordelia Gray is a young woman who works as a private detective in London, having inherited the detective agency "Pryde" on the death of her boss, Bernie Pryde, who committed suicide.
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.
Unnatural Causes is a detective novel by English crime writer P. D. James. The third to feature Adam Dalgliesh, it was published in the UK by Faber & Faber in 1967 and by Charles Scribner's Sons in the US. A paperback edition followed the same year. An adaptation of the novel was filmed for television in 1993.
A Certain Justice is a detective novel by British writer P. D. James, published in 1997 by Faber & Faber in the UK and by Alfred A. Knopf in the US. It was the tenth to feature her recurring character Adam Dalgliesh and the book was dedicated to her five grandchildren.
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 by P.D. James, the eleventh book in the Adam Dalgliesh series.
The Murder Room is a 2003 detective novel by English writer P. D. James, the twelfth 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, the eighth book 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, the ninth book 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 sixth 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.
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.
Murder by the Book is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout published in 1951 by the Viking Press, and collected in the omnibus volume Royal Flush (1965).
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.
The amateur detective, or sometimes 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 the United Kingdom in the Golden Age. The heroes of these adventures are often members of the British gentry or gentlemen by conduct. They are sometimes contrasted with professional police force detectives from the working classes.
Dalgliesh is a British crime drama television series, based on the Adam Dalgliesh novels by PD James. Bertie Carvel stars as the title character, an enigmatic detective–poet. The six-part series premiered on Acorn TV on 1 November 2021 in the United States followed by a Channel 5 premiere on 4 November in the United Kingdom.
