P. D. James

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P. D. James
Born August 3, 1920 (1920-08-03) (age 87)
Oxford, England
Occupation Novelist
Nationality British
Genres Crime fiction
Thriller
Official website

Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, OBE, FRSA, FRSL (born 3 August 1920) is an English author of crime fiction, under the name P. D. James, and is a life peer in the British House of Lords.[1]

Contents

[edit] 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. 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.

Many of James's mystery novels take place against the backdrop of the UK'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's 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: she is a devout Anglican, and this comes through in many of her works. Her next Adam Dalgliesh novel, The Private Patient, will be published in November 2008 in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, and in September 2008 in the U.K. by Faber & Faber.

[edit] List of books

Adam Dalgliesh Series:

  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)

Cordelia Gray Series:

  1. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1972)
  2. The Skull Beneath the Skin (1982)

Other works include:

P. D. James has also written a successful mainstream novel entitled Innocent Blood (1980) and the dystopian science fiction novel The Children of Men (1992).

Her autobiography, Time to Be in Earnest, was published in 2000.

Omnibus editions

  • A Dalgleish Trilogy comprises Shroud for a Nightingale, The Black Tower and Death of an Expert Witness.
  • A Second Dalgleish Trilogy comprises A Taste for Death, A Mind to Murder and Devices and Desires.
  • Trilogy of Death comprises An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, Innocent Blood and The Skull Beneath the Skin.

[edit] Film and television

Most of James' mystery novels have been turned into television mini-series broadcast in the United Kingdom initially on the ITV network and, more recently, on the BBC and on PBS in the United States. Her 1992 novel The Children of Men served as the inspiration for Children of Men, a feature film released in 2006,[2] directed by Alfonso Cuarón and starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine. Despite substantial changes from the book, James was purportedly pleased with the adaptation and proud to be associated with the film.[3]

[edit] DVD Release

The following are currently available on DVD

  • Death In Holy Orders/The Murder Room
  • Children of Men
  • Cover Her Face
  • Unnatural Causes
  • Original Sin
  • The Black Tower
  • Death of an Expert Witness
  • A Taste for Death
  • A Mind to Murder
  • Shroud for a Nightingale
  • A Certain Justice--68.173.4.13 (talk) 10:10, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Honours[4]

In January 2007 she opened the University of Portsmouth's library extension – the Frewen library, which was delayed several times in late 2006.

[edit] Prizes and awards

  • 1971 Best Novel Award, Mystery Writers of America: Shroud for a Nightingale
  • 1971 Crime Writers' Association (CWA) Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction: Shroud for a Nightingale
  • 1973 Best Novel Award, Mystery Writers of America: An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
  • 1975 CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction: The Black Tower
  • 1986 CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction: A Taste for Death
  • 1986 Mystery Writers of America Best Novel Award: A Taste for Death
  • 1987 CWA 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
  • 2007 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award (longlist): The Lighthouse

[edit] Bibliography

  • Richard B Gidez. P.D. James. Twayne’s English Authors Series, New York: Twayne, 1986.
  • Delphine Kresge-Cingal. Perversion et perversité dans les romans à énigme de P.D. James. Lille: Presses du Septentrion, 2001. (PhD thesis)
  • Norma Siebenheller. P.D. James. New York: Ungar, 1981.

[edit] References

  1. ^ UK Parliament - Alphabetical List of Members.
  2. ^ www.imdb.com/title/tt0206634/
  3. ^ P.D. James Pleased With Film Version of Children of Men. internetwritingjournal.com (2007-01-08). Retrieved on 2008-05-20.
  4. ^ British Council contemporary writers

[edit] External links