P D James's picture
468 followers

P D James


UK flag (1920 - 2014)

P D James was born in Oxford and educated at Cambridge High School for Girls. From 1949 to 1968 she worked in the National Health Service and subsequently in the Home Office, first in the Police Department and later in the Criminal Policy Department. All that experience was used in her novels. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Royal Society of Arts and served as a Governor of the BBC, a member of the Arts Council, where she was Chairman of the Literary Advisory Panel, on the Board of the British Council and as a magistrate in Middlesex and London. She was an Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. She won awards for crime writing in Britain, America, Italy and Scandinavia, including the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award and The National Arts Club Medal of Honor for Literature (US). She received honorary degrees from seven British universities, was awarded an OBE in 1983 and was created a life peer in 1991. In 1997 she was elected President of the Society of Authors, stepping down from the post in August 2013.
 

Genres: Mystery, Historical Mystery, Science Fiction
 
Series
Inspector Adam Dalgliesh
   1. Cover Her Face (1962)
   2. A Mind to Murder (1963)
   3. Unnatural Causes (1967)
   4. Shroud for a Nightingale (1971)
   5. The Black Tower (1975)
   6. Death of an Expert Witness (1977)
   7. A Taste for Death (1986)
   8. Devices and Desires (1989)
   9. Original Sin (1994)
   10. A Certain Justice (1997)
   11. Death in Holy Orders (2001)
   12. The Murder Room (2003)
   13. The Lighthouse (2005)
   14. The Private Patient (2008)
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumb
 
thumbthumb
 
Novels
   Innocent Blood (1980)
   The Children of Men (1992)
   Death Comes to Pemberley (2011)
thumbthumbthumb
 
Collections
   Nursing Stories (1979) (with others)
   Tales of Obsession (1994) (with others)
   Crime Writers: A Decade of Crime (2013) (with others)
   The Mistletoe Murder (2016)
   Sleep No More (2017)
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumb
 
Anthologies edited
   Sightlines (2001) (with Harriet Harvey Wood)
thumb
 
Chapbooks
thumb
 
Novellas and Short Stories
   The Victim (2019)
   The Part-Time Job (2020)
thumbthumb
 
Non fiction
   The Maul and the Pear Tree (1971) (with T A Critchley)
   Time to Be in Earnest (1999)
   Talking about Detective Fiction (2009)
thumbthumbthumb
 
Omnibus editions
thumbthumb
 
Anthologies containing stories by P D James
thumb
 
Short stories
Murder, 1986 (1970)
The Mistletoe Murder (1998)


Awards
Edgar Awards Best Novel nominee (1987) : A Taste for Death
Macavity Awards Best Novel winner (1987) : A Taste for Death
BCA Crime Thriller of the Year Best Novel nominee (2006) : The Lighthouse


P D James recommends
thumb
Cat Among the Pumpkins (2014)
(No. 2 Feline Detective Agency, book 2)
Mandy Morton
"Original and intriguing...a world without people which cat lovers will enter and enjoy."
thumb
The Betrayal of Trust (2011)
(Simon Serrailler, book 6)
Susan Hill
"A new crime novel by Susan Hill is an event eagerly awaited by all afficionados."
thumb
Two For Sorrow (2010)
(Josephine Tey, book 3)
Nicola Upson
"A new and assured talent."
thumb
A Small Case for Inspector Ghote? (2009)
(Inspector Ghote, book 26)
H R F Keating
"Mr Keating has created in Inspector Ghote an enchanting and engaging character."
thumb
What Will Survive (2007)
Joan Smith
"Beautifully written and very clever. I absolutely loved it."
thumb
Rumpole and the Primrose Path (2002)
(Rumpole)
John Mortimer
"Rumpole, like Jeeves and Sherlock Holmes, is immortal."

More recommendations 


Visitors also looked at these authors


About Fantastic Fiction       Information for Authors