From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

A Certain Justice (Adam Dalgliesh, #10)

P.D. James

Start date: October 1, 2020

Finish date: October 31, 2020

Discussion: Group Challenges

Why we're reading this: Next in our Adam Dalgliesh challenge.
[close] Next in our Adam Dalgliesh challenge.

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Showing 2 of 173 topics — 7,938 comments total

Group Challenges

* Dec 25: They Do It With Mirrors (1952) by Agatha Christie
By Susan · 14 posts · 16 views

last updated 13 hours, 58 min ago

* Dec 25: They Do It With Mirrors - SPOILER Thread - (1952)
By Susan · 8 posts · 12 views

last updated Dec 05, 2025 03:04PM

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What Members Thought

Sep 24, 2020 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Published in 1994, this is the tenth crime novel featuring Commander Adam Dalgliesh. I am working my way through the Dalgliesh novels and, in my opinion, James could have done with tightening up her work. Her books tend to be over-long and full of detail. That said, this starts really well and, even though it dragged a little, by the end, it was interesting, overall.

Venetia Aldridge is a criminal barrister, who is set to take over as Head of Chambers. Venetia is driven and intelligent; divorced ...more

17 likes · Like · see review

Jun 10, 2021 Shabbeer Hassan rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, police-procedural, brit-lit, audiobook, 2021

I have a love/hate relationship with this book. I hate it because of the way it ends, the unresolved subplots, the unsatisfactory way some just went scotfree and my appreciation for this book comes exactly from these very facts. Murder wreck lives, and not just for the perpetrator/perpetrated, but for everyone involved. This book with its gut-wrenching exploration of people surrounding the victim does just that.

Full marks to Philip Franks for an excellent narration.

My Rating - 4/5

3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 17, 2020 Franky rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, mystery, 2020-reading-challenge

I’m thinking this was a pretty much your average and nondescript run of the mill murder mystery here. It’s titled A Certain Justice, but I’m finding it ironic since there is little justice when it comes to the ending of the book, how it’s handled, etc.

I think this book was fairly uneven in various ways. We are given this big set up and much exposition that leads to the eventual murder of a high profile lawyer (Venetia Aldridge) early in the novel and the subsequent motives for various people wh ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 30, 2012 Robin rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 40-page-rule

Started. At a chapter break, I was glad to find myself at page 43. Stopped.

It was well-written, and interesting (I guess), but I just could not care about the characters.

Like · see review