Detecting reality

Many thanks to south-coast firm Coffin Mew & Clover for bringing a touch of class to Obiter's ongoing search for pictures linking law firms to celebrities of any standing.

Coffin Mew recently supported a series of lectures at Portsmouth University which concluded with Lady PD James expounding on the craft of writing successful detective stories.

She told a packed audience: 'The detective story has moved much closer to mainstream fiction.

It no longer affirms with such confidence the probity of the state system, including the police.

Detectives are far less creatures of fantasy or romantic wish-fulfilment.

They tend to be professionals doing a difficult job in a modern world.' All in all, it's not unlike the lot of legal aid lawyers, who may also find themselves on the other side of the divide, boiling with murderous tendencies after communication from the Legal Services Commission.