Original Sin — P.D. James

Innocent House, a mock-Venetian palace occupied by Britain's oldest book publisher. Here, after a spate of malicious pranks, someone killed Gerard Etienne, the ruthless managing director, and jammed the office mascot, a stuffed snake, in his mouth. Who wanted Etienne dead? Everyone on staff and several authors, too. Now Dalgliesh and his two junior detectives begin uncovering the dark private tragedies in the lives of Etienne's mistress and colleagues. But the mystery at Innocent House might prove more primal still--and too deep, too old, too evil to stop at just one death.