Four previously uncollected stories from one of the great mysterywriters of our time--swift, cunning murder mysteries (two of whichfeature the young Adam Dalgliesh) that together, to borrow the author'sown word, add up to a delightful "entertainment."The newly appointed Sgt. Dalgliesh is drawn into a case that is "pureAgatha Christie." . . . A "pedantic, respectable, censorious" clerk'ssecret taste for pornography is only the first reason he finds for notcoming forward as a witness to a murder . . . A best-selling crimenovelist describes the crime she herself was involved in fifty yearsearlier . . . Dalgliesh's godfather implores him to reinvestigate anotorious murder that might ease the godfather's mind about aninheritance, but which will reveal a truth that even the supremelyupstanding Adam Dalgliesh will keep to himself. Each of these stories isas playful as it is ingeniously plotted, the author's sly humor asevident as her hallmark narrative elegance and shrewd understanding ofsome of the most complex--not to say the most damning--aspects of humannature. A treat for P. D. James's legions of fans and anyone who enjoysthe pleasures of a masterfully wrought whodunit.