| Adam Dalgliesh | |
| First: | Cover Her Face |
| Last: | The Private Patient |
| Creator: | P.D. James |
| Gender: | Male |
| Occupation: | Police detective, Poet |
| Nationality: | British |
| Family: | Jane Dalgliesh (aunt; deceased) |
| Spouse: | Mrs Dalgliesh (deceased) Emma Lavenham |
| Children: | One (deceased) |
Adam Dalgliesh is a fictional character who is the protagonist of fourteen mystery novels by P. D. James; the first being James's 1962 novel Cover Her Face. He also appears in the two novels featuring James's other detective, Cordelia Gray.
In the first novel, Dalgliesh is a Detective Chief Inspector. He eventually reaches the rank of Commander in the Metropolitan Police at New Scotland Yard, London. He is an intensely cerebral and private person. He writes poetry, a fact of which his colleagues are fond of reminding him. Several volumes of his poetry have been published. Dalgliesh lives in a flat above the Thames at Queenhithe in the City of London. In the earlier novels he drives a Cooper Bristol, later a Jaguar. He was described as being "tall, dark and handsome" by some women, alluding to Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
His father was the rector of a Norfolk country parish. His sole family relation was his aunt, Jane Dalgliesh, whom he held in high esteem. After her death, Dalgliesh inherits, among other bequests, a converted windmill located on the Norfolk coast. In his lengthy career, he has been quite astute and successful and now heads a squad of CID officers working on only the most sensitive cases.
Dalgliesh is a widower. He lost his wife in childbirth 13 years before A Mind to Murder, and was reluctant to commit himself ever since. His relationship with Deborah Riscoe ended because of this. During his time at St. Anselm's in Suffolk, he meets Cambridge lecturer Emma Lavenham and later asks her to marry him. The wedding takes place at the end of The Private Patient, published in 2008.
The character's name was chosen in honour of the author's English teacher at Cambridge High School. Years later, she learnt that Miss Dalgliesh's father had in fact been named Adam.[1]
| Novel | Published | Rank | Car | Partners | Order of TV Adaptation | Order of Radio Adaptation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cover Her Face | 1962 | Detective Sergeant George Martin[2] [3] | Third TV Adaptation (Anglia, 1985) | First Radio Adaptation (BBC, 1993) | |||
| A Mind to Murder | 1963 | Detective Sergeant George Martin[4] | Eighth TV Adaptation (Anglia, 1995) | NA | |||
| Unnatural Causes | 1967 | Detective Superintendent | Cooper Bristol | Detective Inspector Reckless of the Suffolk County CID[5] Sergeant Courtney of the Suffolk County CID | Seventh TV Adaptation (Anglia, 1993) | NA | |
| Shroud for a Nightingale | 1971 | Detective Sergeant Charles Masterson[6] | Second TV Adaptation (Anglia, 1984) | NA | |||
| The Black Tower | 1975 | Commander[7] | Detective Inspector Daniel[8] Detective Sergeant Varney | Fourth TV Adaptation (Anglia, 1985) | NA | ||
| Death of an Expert Witness | 1977 | Commander | Detective Inspector the Honourable John Massingham[9] | First TV Adaptation (Anglia, 1983) | NA | ||
| 1986 | Commander | Jaguar XJS[10] | Chief Inspector John Massingham[11] [12] Inspector Kate Miskin[13] [14] | Fifth TV Adaptation (Anglia, 1988) | Fourth Radio Adaptation (BBC, 2008) | ||
| Devices and Desires | 1989 | Commander | Detective Chief Inspector Terry Rickards of the Norfolk CID[15] [16] | Sixth TV Adaptation (Anglia, 1991) | Second Radio Adaptation (BBC, 1998) | ||
| Original Sin | 1994 | Commander | Jaguar | Detective Inspector Kate Miskin[17] [18] Detective Inspector Daniel Aaron[19] Detective Sergeant Robbins[20] | Ninth TV Adaptation (Anglia, 1997) | NA | |
| A Certain Justice | 1997 | Commander | Jaguar | Detective Inspector Kate Miskin[21] Detective Inspector Piers Tarrant Detective Sergeant Robbins[22] | Tenth TV Adaptation (Anglia, 1998) | Third Radio Adaptation (BBC, 2005) | |
| Death in Holy Orders | 2001 | Commander | Jaguar | Detective Inspector Kate Miskin[23] Detective Inspector Piers Tarrant Detective Sergeant Robbins | Eleventh TV Adaptation (BBC, 2003) | NA | |
| The Murder Room | 2003 | Commander | Detective Inspector Kate Miskin[24] Detective Inspector Piers Tarrant Detective Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith[25] | Twelfth TV Adaptation (BBC, 2005) | NA | ||
| 2005 | Commander | Detective Inspector Kate Miskin[26] Detective Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith[27] | NA | NA | |||
| The Private Patient | 2008 | Commander | Jaguar | Detective Inspector Kate Miskin[28] Detective Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith [29] | NA | Fifth Radio Adaptation (BBC, 2010) |
Cordelia Gray mysteries:
Detective Sergeant Martin is Dalgliesh's partner in Cover Her Face and A Mind to Murder. In Shroud for a Nightingale he partners with Detective Sergeant Masterson. Dalgliesh's first permanent partner was the moody and arrogant Detective Chief Inspector Massingham. Detective Inspector Kate Miskin serves with Dalgliesh and Massingham in Scotland Yard's Special Investigation Squad. In The Lighthouse, Miskin takes over running the investigation when Dalgliesh contracts SARS. She is still a member of Dalgliesh's team at the conclusion of The Private Patient (2008).
DI Daniel Aaron replaces Massingham when Massingham leaves Dalgliesh's squad. Aaron leaves the squad after the events of Original Sin; DI Piers Tarrant is his replacement. When Tarrant is then transferred to Special Branch, squad member DS Francis Benton-Smith (introduced in The Murder Room) replaces him as a viewpoint character. Benton-Smith, the ambitious and good-looking son of English and Indian parents, is at first resented by Kate Miskin, but they develop a good working relationship. Meanwhile, Miskin has a romantic relationship with Piers Tarrant after he leaves the Squad, and they reunite at the end of The Private Patient.
Jane Dalgliesh is Adam Dalgiesh's aunt and his sole living relative until her death prior to Devices and Desires. Introduced in Unnatural Causes, she is described as a very private and cerebral person, not unlike Dalgliesh himself. She is fond of bird watching and possesses a cottage in Suffolk which she later sells and buys a converted windmill in Norfolk, which Dalgliesh inherits upon her death.
Conrad Ackroyd is one of Dalgliesh's personal friends. He is a member of the Cadaver Club, a private club of crime enthusiasts featured in Unnatural Causes as well as other novels. He is editor and publisher of The Paternoster Review.[30] Ackroyd's connections in the London establishment are often an asset to Dalgliesh.
Deborah Riscoe is one of Dalgliesh's romantic interests; they first meet when a murder shakes Riscoe's home in Cover Her Face; their relationship develops over the course of A Mind to Murder. However, because of Dalgliesh's reluctance to commit, Riscoe ends their relationship via a letter at the conclusion of Unnatural Causes, accepting a transfer to the United States of America.
Emma Lavenham is a lecturer in literature at Cambridge University. She and Dalgleish meet in Death in Holy Orders, develop a relationship during The Murder Room, and, following Dalgliesh's convalescence from SARS on Combe Island (in The Lighthouse), decide to marry, which they do at the end of The Private Patient.
Dalgliesh makes several small appearances in the two novels in the Cordelia Gray series, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and The Skull Beneath the Skin. Cordelia Gray is a private detective and runs a detective agency in Kingsly Street. Dalgliesh is asked to look into the death of Sir Ronald Callender in Cambridge and acquits Gray of any charges. Gray and Dalgliesh stayed in contact, as evidenced by the congratulations card Dalgliesh receives from Gray while convalescing after a successful operation at the beginning of The Black Tower. Gossiping Conrad Ackroyd also remarks on Dalgliesh's being seen dining out with Cordelia in A Taste for Death.
All of James's novels featuring Adam Dalgliesh up to and including The Murder Room have been adapted for television, beginning with Death of an Expert Witness in 1983. The first ten novels (in the order shown below) were adapted by Anglia Television for transmission on the ITV network and starred Roy Marsden as Dalgliesh. The BBC took over the series in 2003, and Martin Shaw played the role in Death in Holy Orders and The Murder Room. The television adaptations have not always been faithful to the novel they dramatise, partly because they are out of chronological order.
ITV Adaptations starring Roy Marsden
BBC adaptations starring Martin Shaw
Channel 5/Acorn TV adaptation starring Bertie Carvel
A series Dalgliesh starring Bertie Carvel premiered on Acorn TV and Channel 5 in November 2021. It follows Dalgliesh from the 1970s to the present.[31] A second series began airing on Channel 5 in April 2023.[32]
Five of the Dalgliesh novels have been dramatised by Neville Teller for BBC Radio 4. Robin Ellis played Dalgliesh in Cover Her Face (1993; miscredited as Robert Ellis by the BBC announcer) and Devices and Desires (1998). Phillip Franks played the role in A Certain Justice (2005). Dalgliesh was then played by Richard Derrington in A Taste for Death (2008) and The Private Patient (2010).