The Private Patient

Now a major Channel 5 series

''The Queen of Crime.'' New York Times

When the notorious investigative journalist, Rhoda Gradwyn, books into a private clinic in Dorset for the removal of a disfiguring scar, she has every prospect of a successful operation and the beginning of a new life. But won''t leave Cheverell Manor alive. Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate the murder, and later a second death, which raises far more complicated problems than merely the question of innocence or guilt . . .

''An exercise in impeccable detection.'' New York Times

''James-s skill as a yarn-spinner gives plenty of suspense to this intriguing mystery.'' Financial Times