JAMES, P. D.

(Phyllis Dorothy James White, Baroness James of Holland Park), 1920–, English mystery novelist, b. Oxford, England. From 1964 to 1979 she worked in the criminal department of the Department of Home Affairs. Her first mystery, Cover Her Face, was published in 1962. It introduced readers to her most famous character, Scotland Yard's poet-detective Adam Dalgliesh, who appears in most of her subsequent books. Her novels are in the tradition of English detective fiction but go beyond the stereotypical with their subtly realistic characterizations, complex motivations, and sophisticated plots. Her works include An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1972), in which her female sleuth Cordelia Gray first appears; Death of an Expert Witness (1977); The Skull beneath the Skin (1982); Devices and Desires (1989); A Certain Justice (1997); Death in Holy Orders (2001); and The Murder Room (2003). Many of her novels have been adapted for television. James also won critical and popular acclaim with her psychologically insightful and best-selling non-detective novel Innocent Blood (1980).

See her memoir (2000).

See her memoir Time to Be in Earnest (2000); study by N. Siebenheller (1981).

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