The Private Patient - P. D. James

In James's stellar 14th Adam Dalgliesh mystery, the charismatic police commander investigates the case of Rhoda Gradwyn, a 47-year-old journalist murdered soon after undergoing a routine procedure at a plastic surgery clinic in Dorset. National Bestseller. Cheverell Manor is a beautiful old house in Dorset, which its owner, the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell, uses as a private clinic. When the investigative journalist, Rhoda Gradwyn, arrives to have a disfiguring facial scar removed, she has every expectation of a successful operation and a peaceful week recuperating. But the clinic houses an implacable enemy and within hours of the operation Rhoda is murdered. Commander Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate a case complicated by old crimes and the dark secrets of the past. But Before Rhoda's murder is solved, a second horrific death adds to the complexities of one of Dalgliesh's most perplexing and fascinating cases.