Writing at the peak of her form (which is very high indeed), P. D. James has produced her best book since Innocent Blood. The ideas, energy, and artistry on display in A Certain Justice could keep other, younger writers going for most of their careers; the seventysomething James tosses them off with apparent ease. It's billed as: "An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery," but in A Certain Justice the brooding poet detective takes a backseat to the murder victim--a wonderfully complex and basically unlikeable female lawyer named Venetia Aldridge--and to the equally fascinating Kate Miskin, Dalgliesh's able assistant. Thinking of another young police officer, Kate "suspected that he found something risible, even slightly ridiculous, in the traditions, the conventions, the hierarchy of policing. She sensed, too, that this was a view which AD [Adam Dalgliesh] with part of his mind understood, even if he didn't share it. But she couldn't live her life like that, couldn't be lighthearted about her career..." A Certain Justice would be the perfect mystery to ignite the enthusiasm of people who haven't read any P.D. James.
