Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park OBE (born 3 August 1920) is an English writer of crime fiction and member of the House of Lords, who writes as P. D. James. Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are... August 3 is the 215th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (216th in leap years), with 150 days remaining. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 3 - Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at that time. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages English Capital London Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population –mid-2004... Sherlock Holmes, pipe-puffing hero of crime fiction, confers with his colleague Dr. Watson; together these characters popularized the genre. ... This article is about the British House of Lords. ...

It has been noted by many critics that James has upgraded and expanded the entire genre of mystery writing; and that many of her books, especially the police procedurals starring Dalgliesh, the poetry writing detective, fit the mainstream novel criteria as much as they do the detective genre. James' strengths are characterization and her ability to construct atmosphere and stories rich in detail.

Biography

P.D. James is the daughter of Sydney and Dorothy James. She married Connor Bantry White in 1941 with whom she had two daughters. She was widowed in 1964. She has been active in many fields and served as Governor of the BBC (1988–93), Member of the Arts Council (1988–92) and Board Member of the British Council (1988–93). She received the Order of the British Empire in 1983 and in 1991 became a life peer. She sits in the House of Lords as a Conservative, Baroness James of Holland Park. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC, sometimes also known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world, founded in 1922. ... The Arts Council of Great Britain was a Quango dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Britain. ... The British Council is a partly UK Government-funded cultural relations organisation and a registered charity in the United Kingdom. ... Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are... In the United Kingdom, Life Peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles may not be inherited (those whose titles are inheritable are known as hereditary peers). ... The Conservative Party is one of the two largest political parties in the United Kingdom and the most successful party in political history based on election victories. ... Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London in England. ...

Writing

James did not begin writing until she reached her thirties. Her first novel, Cover Her Face, featuring the investigator/poet Adam Dalgliesh of New Scotland Yard, was published in 1962. James retired in 1979 to devote herself to her writing. She has said that her influences include Jane Austen, Dorothy L. Sayers, herself a well-known British author of mysteries, Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh. Adam Dalgliesh is the brainchild of author P.D. James. ... Alternative meanings: Scotland Yard (band), Scotland Yard board game New Scotland Yard, London New Scotland Yard, often referred to as simply Scotland Yard or The Yard, is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for policing Greater London (although not the City of London itself). ... Jane Austen, in a portrait based on one drawn by her sister Cassandra Jane Austen (December 16, 1775 – July 18, 1817) was an English novelist whose work is considered part of the Western canon. ... Dorothy Leigh Sayers (Oxford, 13 June 1893 – Witham, 17 December 1957) was a renowned British author, translator, student of classical and modern languages, and Christian humanist. ... Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene, OM (October 2, 1904 – April 3, 1991) was a prolific English novelist, playwright, short story writer and critic whose works explore the doubtfulness of modern man and ambivalent moral or political issues in a contemporary setting. ... Evelyn Waugh, as photographed in 1940 by Carl Van Vechten Arthur Evelyn St. ...

Many of James' mystery novels take place against the backdrop of Britain's vast bureaucracies such as the criminal justice system and the health services, arenas in which James honed her skills for decades starting in the 1940s when she went to work in hospital administration to help support her ailing husband and two children. Two years after the publication of Cover Her Face, James' husband died and she took a position as a civil servant within the criminal section of the Department of Home Affairs. James worked in government service until her retirement in 1979, and her many years of experience within these bureaucracies add a complex stratum of insider's knowledge to her writing. Her 2001 work, Death in Holy Orders, displays an insightful grasp of the inner workings of church hierarchy. Bureaucracy is a concept in sociology and political science. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The British civil service is the permanent bureaucracy that supports the Government Ministers responsible to the Sovereign and Parliament in administering the United Kingdom. ... Martin Shaw stars as the sterling, sensitive Detective Inspector Adam Dalgliesh in P. D. Jamess latest murder-in-the-establishment drama, Death in Holy Orders. ...

List of books

Her detective novels include:

• Cover Her Face (1962) (introducing her Scotland Yard detective Adam Dalgliesh)
• 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) (introducing her female sleuth called Cordelia Gray)
• The Black Tower (1975)
• Death of an Expert Witness (1977)
• The Skull Beneath the Skin (1982)
• A Taste for Death (1985)
• Devices and Desires (1990)
• Original Sin (1994)
• A Certain Justice (1997)
• Death in Holy Orders (2001)
• The Murder Room (2003)
• The Lighthouse (2005)

P.D. James has also written a successful mainstream novel entitled Innocent Blood (1980) and the dystopian novel The Children of Men (1992). Her autobiography Time To Be In Earnest was published in 2000. New Scotland Yard, London New Scotland Yard, often referred to simply as Scotland Yard or The Yard, is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for policing Greater London (although not the City of London itself). ... Adam Dalgliesh is the brainchild of author P.D. James. ... Unnatural Causes is the title of a 1967 detective novel by P. D. James. ... Categories: Literature stubs | 1972 books | Books starting with U | Mystery novels ... Cordelia Grey is the main protagonist of P. D. Jamess An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and of The Skull Beneath the Skin. ... The Skull Beneath The Skin is a 1982 detective novel by P. D. James, featuring her female private detective Cordelia Gray. ... Devices and Desires is a 1990 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James. ... Original Sin is a 1994 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James. ... A Certain Justice is an Adam Dalgliesh novel of PD James published in 1997. ... Martin Shaw stars as the sterling, sensitive Detective Inspector Adam Dalgliesh in P. D. Jamess latest murder-in-the-establishment drama, Death in Holy Orders. ... The Murder Room is a 2003 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James. ... The Lighthouse is a novel by P.D. James, and the most recent book in the Adam Dalgliesh mystery series. ... Mainstream is, generally, the common current of thought of the majority. ... Innocent Blood (1980) is a novel by P. D. James in which a young woman learns that her father and mother are her adoptive rather than her natural parents. ... A dystopia (alternatively, cacotopia[1], kakotopia or anti-utopia) is a fictional society that is the antithesis of utopia. ... The Children of Men (1992) is a dystopian novel by P.D. James set in England in 2021. ...

Prizes and awards

• 1971 Best Novel Award, Mystery Writers of America Shroud for a Nightingale
• 1971 Crime Writers' Association (CRA) Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction Shroud for a Nightingale
• 1973 Best Novel Award, Mystery Writers of America An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
• 1975 CRA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction The Black Tower
• 1986 CRA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction A Taste for Death
• 1986 Mystery Writers of America Best Novel Award A Taste for Death
• 1987 CRA Cartier Diamond Dagger (lifetime achievement award)
• 1992 Deo Gloria Award The Children of Men
• 1999 Grandmaster Award, Mystery Writers of America
• 2002 WH Smith Literary Award (shortlist) Death in Holy Orders
• 2005 British Book Awards Crime Thriller of the Year (shortlist) The Murder Room

The Crime Writers Assocation (or CWA) is a UK-based organisation founded by John Creasey in 1953, which has become arguably the most important crime fiction institution in the country. ...

External links

• 1986, 1990 and 1993 audio interview with P.D. James by Don Swaim of CBS Radio, RealAudio

• P. D. James at www.contemporarywriters.com