Considered by many to be the undisputed Queen of Mystery, sadly P.D. James’ reign has come to an end. It’s hard to believe she penned only 19 novels in a career that spanned five decades. It seems as if there had been so many more and it’s sad to think no more will there be.
Phyllis Dorothy James did not publish her first book until 1964 at the age of 42. It took six years to complete as she wrote only in the morning before going to work at her civil servant job in the National Health Service. Although it had always been her intention to write, with her husband mentally debilitated and broken from his service in the war, supporting the family became her primary role. “It was a late beginning for someone who knew from early childhood that she wanted to be a novelist, and, looking back, I can’t help regret what I now see as some wasted years,” James wrote in a 1999 autobiography, Time to Be Earnest.
However, after becoming a successful writer she chose to continue to work a full time day job until 1979. Of course, her last position was as an administrator in the forensic science and criminal law divisions of the Department of Home Affairs which provided plenty of rich material for her novels.
Although I enjoyed her Adam Dalgliesh detective series, my personal favorite was the critically acclaimed The Children of Men. Outside the mystery genre, James created a bleak dystopian future in which the human race has become infertile. It was unexpected and well done. Her last novel in homage to Jane Austin, Death Comes to Pemberley, James inserts a murder into the mannered world of Pride and Prejudice. She said about testing new waters, “I don’t think that we necessarily choose our genre; the genre chooses us.”
She has said that even as a child she was interested in death. When someone read “Humpty Dumpty” to her, she asked, “Did he fall or was he pushed?” However, she also said, “I think I’m very frightened of violence. I hate it. And it may be that by writing mysteries I am able, as it were, to exorcise this fear, which may very well be the same reason so many people enjoy reading a mystery.”
But the quote that truly hit home with me, mostly because she describes how I feel about writing, was this: “It seems to me, that the more we live in a society in which we feel our problems to be literally beyond our ability to solve, the more reassuring it is to read a popular form of fiction which itself has a problem at the heart of it. One which the reader knows will be solved by the end of the book.”
Thank you PD James for providing us with incredible opportunities to escape. For being a role model who held onto your dream to be a novelist, for making it happen and for stretching genre boundaries. And thank you for your generous spirit, particularly your genuine interest in supporting other writers less successful than you had been.
You will be missed PD James!
P.D. James lives on. Trusting that you are feeling better Loretta. Holiday blessings to you and yours.
Ann Roussel
So good to see your reply…I trust you’re a fan! We miss you on the EBFP board Ann. Best wishes for a happy Christmas season to you and yours.
Thanks for the interesting posting on PD James! I genuinely enjoyed reading it and I encourage you to continue with your writing.
Thanks, Diana! I can always use the encouragement. And with PD James as an inspiration I will continue to pursue this passion.
Thanks for keeping those of us who are “sheltered” alert and in the real world. Hope you are feeling better!
Who’s sheltered? You? No way! Thanks so much for visiting the website Lynnette!
I lave enjoyed PD James in the past, but have not read anything by her in the past few years. Love the insight in to her life. What a thoughtful quote. Thank you to my favorite novelist for sharing such a great message.
What a lovely compliment, Barb. Glad the quote was meaningful to you.
I hit reply before finishing. As you may have read in Cia’s comments, there is another author you might like. Her name is Louise Penny and she writes the Inspector Gamache series. As always, thank you for your thoughtful replies, Barb!
After reading your post on P.D. James…I think I must RUN out to buy one of her books that you so lovingly spoke about! I better wait, though, if I start to read it NOW…I may not get my holiday decorating, shopping or baking done as I will be unable to put the book down!! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on an incredible NEW author for me to enjoy!! 🙂
I know how much you enjoy the holiday festivities! A PD James book would definitely be a good January read. Thanks for stopping by with your fun comments!
Thanks for the great tribute to PD James, Loretta! I didn’t realize she had written Children of Men which was made into an amazing movie with Clive Owen. It has one of the longest unbroken scenes in movie history, the one where they are running through a warehouse. It’s all filmed from one camera with no cuts–pretty incredible from a moving-making point of view. I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never read one of her mysteries so I will add her to my list.
Just finished the fourth book of the Louise Penny Inspector Gamache mysteries and am eager to read the next one, but realize I should take a break now and then to intersperse something else. So having just seen The Theory of Everything, the excellent movie about Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne is incredible!), I have embarked on A Brief History of Time which is quite interesting and surprisingly readable. A tidy murder mystery will be a nice contrast to a treatise on cosmology!
It was a good movie! But as is usually the case, I did enjoy the book even more. Now that you are a Louise Penny fan you might also like PD James. Louise Penny has said she was profoundly influenced in her reading and her writing by Ms. James. I promise to start with the Inspector Gamache series soon. So many books and not enought time to read them all!
Loretta, my favorite part of this piece was knowing your feelings about writing. I too so enjoy having a book tie together the parts of it and have a problem solved at the end. What a gift to be able to do that! Now if you can only do that in our own adventurous lives! Ha ha Love Deb
That’s why we need fiction ~ reading or writing ~ as a great means of escaping some of the more daunting adventures life serves up…at least temporarily until we have no choice but to deal with them. As always, I appreciate your comments and your friendship!
Loretta, When it comes to appreciating mystery writing, I am a confessed Philistine, but I greatly enjoyed your piece on PD James, and it is inspiring enough to compel me to read “Children of Men”, which I too did not realize she wrote. You have written a lovely tribute.
While on the subject of tributes, I am tardy in saying that your tribute to your mom was wonderful.
I think of her often, and she was indeed a treasure to all who had the great fortune of knowing her.
Thanks for stopping by Mr. C! I hope you will enjoy reading Children of Men. She wrote the novel in 1992 and with the movie made so many years later (2006 I think) as is often the case, it presents a much different interpretation. I googled to see what Ms. James thought of the movie and I couldn’t uncover anything. But some reviewers who loved the book felt disappointed by the movie and said they probably would have enjoyed the movie better if they hadn’t read the book first. I actually enjoyed both, but there were many years separating my reading the book and seeing the movie.
And thank you for the kind words about Mom. It’s going to be a tough Christmas this year…hard to be jolly when I’m missing her so much.
I’ve read several of your novels and I think they’re quite good. I understand you haven’t been published yet, but I consider this an egregious oversight and I’m confident that publication is imminent. I majored in Victorian literature during my college years and I’ve read all of the classics. I have also read all of the great mystery writers. I think you compare favorably to a number of present day published authors and I’m looking forward to having one of your books on my shelf. I’m pulling for you!
As for PD James, I agree with your assessment that The Children of Men was her best.
Thank you for the lovely compliment! I would love to sign a copy of one of my published books for you…let’s hope that day is coming soon.
I second the comments of GEM, and hope to add a copy of one of your published books to my library soon.
I’m honored to have such devoted fans! Thank you for your kind words and your good wishes for my success, Sarah. It means the world to me.
I had read about PD James in the newspaper before you posted your interest. I have never been a bonafied mystery fan. Maybe some very light writings. Always enjoy your take on these matters of literature.
Hope you are better. I have also been dealing with sinus & cough issues. Give Geoff my love.
We will have to convert you! As always, thank you for visiting the website. It’s always fun to open up to find comments from good friends. Feel better. Love and hugs!