Author of nineteen books, most of P. D. James' work features investigator Adam Dalgliesh, Commander in the Metropolitan Police Service at New Scotland Yard, who also writes poetry. Written in the tradition of the British crime story, this series has won numerous awards, and many of these books have been made into television miniseries. Let's take a closer look at the author who brought us detective (and poet) Dalgliesh.
Early Life
Phyllis Dorothy James was born in Oxford, England, on August 3, 1920. Her family moved to Cambridge when she was 11, where she attended the Cambridge High School for Girls. She left school when she was sixteen to work because her family needed the money. For three years, she worked in a tax office, and she later worked at the Festival Theatre in Cambridge as assistant stage manager and assistant box office manager, among other miscellaneous roles. She married army doctor Ernest Connor Bantry White in 1941 and had two daughters (Claire and Jane). When her husband returned from World War II, he suffered from mental illness leaving him unable to get a job. This forced James to support the family working for the National Health Service between 1949-68. In 1964, her husband White died.
Later Life and Writing
James didn't start writing until she was in her thirties, and in 1962 her first novel, Cover Her Face, was published. In 1968, she passed the examination qualifying her for Civil Service work, and between 1972 and 1979, she worked in the Crime Department in London. This experience served as a basis for her novels, providing her with background in police procedures.
In 1979, P. D. James retired from civil service to become a full-time writer.
Recent P. D. James
Aside from authoring several published books, P. D. James has remained active after her retirement. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1983, and in 1991, she was made a baroness. James also served on the Governor's board of the BBC. With her 87th birthday approaching, many are speculating that her most recent novel, The Lighthouse, might be the final chapter in the Adam Dalgliesh series.
Bibliography
Cover Her Face (1962)
A Mind to Murder (1963)
Unnatural Causes (1967)
Shroud for a Nightingale (1971)
The Maul and the Pear Tree: The Ratcliffe Highway Murders, 1811 (with Thomas A. Critchley) (1971)
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1972)
The Black Tower (1975)
Death of an Expert Witness (1977)
Innocent Blood (1980)
The Skull beneath the Skin (1982)
A Taste for Death (1986)
Devices and Desires (1989)
The Children of Men (1992)
Original Sin (1994)
A Certain Justice (1997)
Time to Be in Earnest: A Fragment of Autobiography (2000)
Death in Holy Orders (2001)
The Murder Room (2003)
The Lighthouse (2005)
