The Skull Beneath the Skin Signed by P.D. James to her secretary 1st 1982

London: Faber & Faber, 1982
 
*P.D. James personal assistant Joyce McLennan's copy, with a warm inscription from the author to her on the front free end paper*
 
8vo., in the pictorial dust jacket illustrated by Pentagram, unclipped correctly priced at £7.95 on the inside flap; pp. [x], 11-384; in a very good jacket with minor general wear to the edges and corners, some light indentations to the lower panel and a tiny tear to the top edge of the front panel, along with the odd sporadic foxing mark; the upper text block has foxing marks otherwise the book is in very good condition.
 
P.D. James has signed her name to the title page without dedication and also inscribed this copy to Joyce McLennan, her secretary, to the front free end paper. She has written:
 
"To darling Joyce with all my love, Ph, Gt Malvern 12 November 1982 P.D. James" 
 
First UK edition. The second Cordelia Gray murder mystery, after An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. A mystery set on Courcy Island off the Dorset coast. 
 
Joyce McLennan started working as PD James personal assistant in 1978 and did so up to the author's death in 2014. In PD James autobiography she said of McLennan that she was "unfailingly good-tempered and 'in a small group of friends in whom I can rely on to keep me sane." PD James dedicated her 2011 novel 'Death comes to Pemberley' to McLennan and it is clear that they were close friends. 
 
A scarce presentation copy from PD James to her personal assitant Joyce McLennan, dated in the year of publication.