The Lighthouse (Adam Dalgliesh Series #13) »

With morality-conscious mysteries that do not linger on gore, P. D. James is a sort of anti-Lecter. Her tales are told in the whodunit tradition that prizes character, restraint and the slow unraveling of both a mystery and a social niche.

A subtle and powerful work of contemporary fiction.

Combe Island off the Cornish coast has a bloodstained history of piracy and cruelty but now, privately owned, it offers respite to over-stressed men and women in positions of high authority who require privacy and guaranteed security. But the peace of Combe is violated when one of the distinguished visitors is bizarrely murdered.

Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called in to solve the mystery quickly and discreetly, but at a difficult time for him and his depleted team. Dalgliesh is uncertain about his future with Emma Lavenham, the woman he loves; Detective Inspector Kate Miskin has her own emotional problems…

The New York Times - Janet Maslin

The Lighthouse is too rooted in genre conventions to count originality as its strong suit. But it has deviousness to burn, and it also offers other enticements. It's the kind of book that boasts a wryly humorous Scrabble scene, not to mention a Scrabble-lover's vocabulary: Ms. James makes ready use of words like abseil, belay, symphysis and meiosis. It's a book that serves up figurative red herring as well as melon balls in orange sauce. Not a menu goes unmentioned … it is a sturdy installment in a well-honed series, which is a concept that even its characters understand.