Download or read book The Nice and the Good written by Iris Murdoch and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1978-12-14 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Ducane, a respected Whitehall civil servant, is asked to investigate the suicide of a colleague. As he pursues his inquiry he uncovers a shabby, evil world of murder, blackmail, and black magic. In contrast to stagnant summer London, Octavian and Kate Gray’s adoring community on the Dorset coast seems to offer Ducane refuge, but even here the aftereffects of violence poison an atmosphere already electric with adolescent quarrels and intrigue. After a swim into the underworld, Ducane begins to realize that niceness is not enough, and no one here is good. “A feast.”—Guardian