Innocent Blood (novel)

When she turns eighteen she decides to use her legal right to pursue the truth of her origins, but places herself in danger when her missions come up against the interests of people who'd rather she never find out who she is.

The diverse characters are admirably drawn and the author's fingerwork in tying and untying threads is as deft as her touches of sordid life and as nimble as her prose.

"[1] Though critical of the more genre-based elements of the plot, Maureen Howard in The New York Times of April 27, 1980, wrote: "The curious thing is that P. D. James is gifted in the techniques of the traditional novel, can create place, gives great attention to significant detail and the pacing of her narrative, but seems to mistrust her own art and run for the cover of artifice.

The city as she renders it is more than background, more than a movie set: vandals roam the streets at dawn, and so do enigmatic ladies in evening dress; it is alive with terror and good fortune.

"[2] In 2008, Tana French chose Innocent Blood as one of her "top 10 maverick mysteries", in an article for The Guardian, ranking it alongside such works as The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Daughter of Time as an example of a crime novel that defies "all the thriller's conventions".