James, P.D., 1920-2014

P. D. James (b. Phyllis Dorothy James, August 3, 1920, Oxford, England–d. November 27 2014, Oxford, England) was an English crime writer who was famous for her series of detective novels starring police commander and poet Adam Dalgliesh. After her husband's mental breakdown after World War II, she worked for a hospital board in London and also for the Home Office until her retirement in 1979. James began writing in the mid-1950s. Her first novel, Cover Her Face, featuring the investigator and poet Adam Dalgliesh of New Scotland Yard, was published in 1962. Many of her mystery novels take place against the backdrop of UK bureaucracies, such as the criminal justice system and the National Health Service. Many of her mystery novels were adapted for television by Anglia Television for the ITV network in the UK.

In 1991, James was created a life peer as Baroness James of Holland Park and sat in the House of Lords as a Conservative.