P.D. James spun crime into literature
Readers around the world are still mourning the death last week of acclaimed mystery novelist P.D. James.
James wrote more than 20 books and was behind such novels as 鈥淭he Children of Men,鈥� 鈥淎n Unsuitable Job for a Woman,鈥� and her last work, the bestselling Jane Austen-tribute book 鈥淒eath Comes to Pemberley.鈥� Many of James鈥檚 books centered on her protagonist Adam Dalgliesh, who worked as a detective at Scotland Yard聽
As noted by the , James did not shy away from gory scenes.
鈥淟et those who want pleasant murders read Agatha Christie,鈥� James is reported to have said. 鈥淢urder isn鈥檛 pleasant. It鈥檚 an ugly thing and a cruel thing, and murder in the isolated country house with the snow piled up outside just isn鈥檛 real.鈥�
Writer Ruth Rendell praised James鈥� eye for detail in an interview with the .
鈥淪he was wonderfully accurate in her police work,鈥� Rendell said. 鈥淪he really took great pains about it. She took great care and she got it right. She did not make mistakes, she saw to it that she didn't.鈥�
Critics praised the quality of James鈥檚 writing and her characters. In her review of James鈥檚 book 鈥淭alking About Detective Fiction,鈥� Monitor fiction critic Yvonne Zipp noted that 鈥渢here are few living mystery writers more widely respected than James鈥�.
Author A.S. Byatt discussed the author鈥檚 struggle to have her genre get the respect she felt it deserved. 鈥淪he said crime fiction should win the Booker and tried to have it taken seriously,鈥� Byatt said. 鈥淧hyllis was on the borderline between crime fiction and literary fiction."
鈥淧emberley鈥� was James鈥檚 last book published in her lifetime, but there could be another on the way. According to the BBC, the author said last year that she was writing another novel and that she thought it was 鈥渋mportant to write one more.鈥�
