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P. D. James

Another of England's foremost mystery writers along with Ruth Rendell, and perhaps even better known, P. D. James is a name recognized well beyond the borders of Great Britian. P. D. James was born Phyllis Dorothy James White on August 3, 1920 in Oxford, England. She celebrated her eightieth birthday in the year 2000 and also published her autobiography, "Time To Be In Earnest.'

As a child, young Phyllis moved with her somewhat disparate parents to a Welsh border town named Ludlow, where she experienced a very Victorian upbringing. Ms. James loved her English lessons in grammar school, prescient of her career in writing even then.

Leaving school at 16 due to financial problems at home, she followed her father's footsteps, first working for the Internal Revenue tax office, then broke away for a position in a theatre. The theatre was where Ms. James met her husband, who served in World War II and returned with a severe mental illness - making P.D. James the breadwinner of the family. Ms. James supported her two children by working in a hospital and by writing, even though she was 39 before her first book, 'Cover Her Face' was published.

P.D. James spent thirty years in various departments of the British Civil Service, including the Police and Criminal Law Departments of Great Britain's Home Office. Ms. James has also served as magistrate and governor of the BBC.

P.D. James was awarded the OBE in 1982, has chaired the Booker Prize panel of judges, was made Associate Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge, and made a Life Peer in 1992. In 1997 Ms. James was elected President of the Society of Authors. P. D. James has received a number of well-deserved honors and prizes.

P. D. James is presently Baroness James of Holland Park and has 5 grandchildren, dividing her time between Oxford and London.

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