P.D. James

'All fiction is an attempt to create order out of disorder and to make sense of personal experience. But the classical detective story does this within its own established conventions; a central mystery which is usually but not necessarily a murder, a closed circle of suspects, a detective, either professional or amateur, who comes in like an avenging deity to solve the crime, and a final solution which the reader should be able to arrive at himself by logical deduction from the clues. This apparent formula writing is capable of accommodating a remarkable variety of books and talents. Within the formal constraints of the detective novel I try to say something true about men and women under the stress of the ultimate crime and about the society in which they live.'
(P.D.James)


There was a time in my life when all I wanted to read was a good P.D. James detective story. Years later, I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture given by her - the most adorable old lady I have ever seen! It was extremely hard to associate the lovely lady in front of me with all those stories I had read.

She wrote some short stories but she is better known for her crime novels.

You can have a go at writing your own mistery stories at her website.

You can listen to P.D. James talking about her work here.