Death in Holy Orders

Updated June 26, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

England's reigning Queen of Crime sets her latest literary mystery at the sacrosanct College of St. Anselm on the East Anglican coast of Britain. A student is found dead on the shore, buried in the sand. His death by suffocation is ruled an accident, but his influential father insists on an investigation. Days later, the school's retired nurse is suffocated on the grounds, sending clear signals that something is awry at the theological college. Enter poet/Scotland Yard commander Adam Dalgliesh, who spent summers at the school as a child. Dalgliesh's arrival coincides with the gruesome murder of the school's archdeacon and the launch of a full-scale investigation that reveals a close-knit community tangled in a web of ghastly secrets.