The Skull Beneath the Skin

(Paperback, Export - Airside ed)

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Description

Hired to protect a beautiful but neurotic actress, Cordelia Gray soon becomes embroiled in a case as dangerous to her own life as it is mysterious. Clarissa Lisle hopes to make a spectacular come back in a production of The Duchess of Malfi, to be played in Ambrose Gorringe's sinister castle at Courcy Island. Cordelia is there to ensure her safety following the appearance of a number of poison-pen letters. But it soon becomes clear that all are in danger. Trapped within the walls of the Gothic Castle, the treacherous past of the island re-emerges, and everyone seems to have a motive for sending Clarissa 'down, down the hell'. Marking the return of Cordelia Gray, The Skull Beneath the Skin is a complex mystery that more than lives up to its predecessor, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman.

Reviews

"A fine novel . . . from its very first pages you feel you are in marvellously sure hands." "--The Times" "Irresistible." --"Winnipeg Free Press" "Original, suspenseful, ingenious. . . . A whacking great whodunit by the reigning Queen of Mystery." --"Calgary Sun" "Her concern with the psychological reality of her characters is complemented by a scrupulous attention to physical detail, an easy ear for dialogue and a concise voice for description. Taken together, these are an unfailing combination." --"The Hamilton Spectator" "The reason it takes me so long to write is because it takes a long time for the characters to reveal themselves to me. My ambition as a writer is to make even the minor characters come alive." --P. D. James "James pulls out all the stops ... an overlay of lust; midnight apparitions; hairbreadth escapes." "--New York Magazine ""A masterly version of the clue-and-alibi game ... five star." --"Th

Author Bio

P.D. James served in the forensic and criminal justice departments of the Home Office until her retirement in 1979. She was made a Life Peer in 1991. Her detective novels include Cover Her Face, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, Death of an Expert Witness, A Taste of Death, Original Sin, A Certain Justice, Death in Holy Orders and The Murder Room. Many of them have been adapted for television.