P.D. James

British National Health Service employee Phyllis Dorothy James White (1920–2014) reinvented herself at age 38 as P.D. James, crime novelist. She then became long known as England’s “Queen of Crime.” Sixteen of her 20 novels feature one or both of her series detectives, Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard and private eye Cordelia Gray. Stand-alone works include the dystopian The Children of Men (1992) and Death Comes to Pemberley (2011), a sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. James’s careful plotting has earned comparison with Golden Age British detective writers such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. Yet James’s work is thoroughly modern, with realistic descriptions of police procedures and the echoes and aftereffects of crime. This literary companion includes more than 700 encyclopedic entries covering the characters, settings and themes of her published writing, along with a career chronology, chronological and alphabetical listings of her works, and an exhaustive index.

Laurel A. Young is an English instructor at Saint Mary’s School in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Series Editor Elizabeth Foxwell, an Agatha Award winner, is managing editor of Clues: A Journal of Detection.

Laurel A. Young

Series Editor Elizabeth Foxwell

Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 288
Bibliographic Info: 4 photos, chronology, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2017
pISBN: 978-0-7864-9791-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2890-5
Imprint: McFarland
Series: McFarland Companions to Mystery Fiction

Preface  1
Organization of the Companion  3
James’s Works in Chronological Order  5
James’s Works in Alphabetical Order  7
Brief Biography  9
A Career Chronology  11
Abbreviations  15
The Companion  17
Annotated Bibliography  259
Index  269

• “recommended”—Choice
• “Fans and researchers of P. D. James’ work will appreciate this recent addition to McFarland’s encyclopedic companion series. The entries are written in a clear and objective style, and include references to quotations in specific prints of James’ work. Anyone interested in exploring the range of James’ authorship will appreciate this comprehensive companion book”—ARBA