Death of an Expert Witness is an Adam Dalgliesh novel by P. D. James, published in 1977. It beginswith the discovery of a murder of young girl. However, this is not the focus of the novel, but rather is used as a method to introduce the reader to the staff of aforensic laboratory, the background of this mystery. The actual murder of Dr. Lorrimer, an experienced expert witness, is only discovered in the second section of the book. It is quickly established that only people associated with the lab would have the opportunity or the knowledge to commit the crime, which allows the detectives to focus their attention.
Synopsis by Wikipedia.org
I found the writing to be very pretentious. As a long time PD James fan, I am glad that I read this book now even though it had been published almost 30 years ago. The plot did not hang together as tightly as in most of James' novels. At times, the long complicated narratives became boring. The characters did not seem to be fully developed, especially Inspector Dalgliesh.
