![]() Although mystery writers are often criticized for using a formulaic process, James found these restrictions liberating, and she was fascinated by the variety of writers who could use the so-called formula successfully. Because mysteries were then popular, James felt she would have a better chance of getting her work published she also liked the constraints involved in the craft of writing detective fiction. James did not get around to putting her writing skills to work until she was almost 40, but she knew from the start that it would be a crime story. She also served as a magistrate in London. In 1968, she entered the Home Office and served first as a principal in the Police Department and later in the Criminal Policy Department, again experiences that later made their way into her crime novels. James' understanding of medical matters, gained through personal experiences during these years, later proved valuable for clinical settings in many of her stories. In 1949, with two young daughters to support, James began work for the National Health Service, and medical administration became her career. White returned from the war in 1945 mentally incapacitated and was hospitalized until his death in 1964. In 1941, she married Ernest Conner White, a physician serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War II. A few years later, she managed to escape the bureaucratic world and became an assistant stage manager at the Festival Theater of Cambridge. ![]() She has described her childhood as "reasonably happy," not the sort of traumatic youth that some might think a prerequisite for producing tales filled with violent deaths.įorced to quit school at age 16, James went to work in a tax office. James recalls that from an early age she knew that she wanted to write and had a gift for it the problem would be to figure out how to use this gift. ![]() The family moved to Cambridge, where Phyllis attended school at the Cambridge High School for Girls. James, the "Queen of Crime," was born in Oxford, England, on August 3, 1920, the daughter of Sidney, an official of the Inland Revenue, and Dorothy Hone James. Phyllis Dorothy James White, who is better known to legions of mystery fans as P.D. Selected writings:Ĭover Her Face (London: Faber & Faber, 1962) A Mind to Murder (London: Faber & Faber, 1963) Unnatural Causes (London: Faber & Faber, 1967) Shroud for a Nightingale (London: Faber & Faber, 1971) An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (London: Faber & Faber, 1972) The Black Tower (London: Faber & Faber, 1975) Death of an Expert Witness (London: Faber & Faber, 1977) Innocentīlood (London: Faber & Faber, 1980) The Skull Beneath the Skin (London: Faber & Faber, 1982) A Taste for Death (London: Faber & Faber, 1986) Devices and Desires (London: Faber & Faber, 1989) The Children of Men (London: Faber & Faber, 1992) Original Sin (London: Faber & Faber, 1994) A Certain Justice (London: Faber & Faber, 1997). Born Phyllis Dorothy James on August 3, 1920, in Oxford, England daughter of Sidney Victor James (an Inland Revenue officer) and Dorothy May (Hone) James educated at Cambridge Girls' High School, 1931–37 married Ernest Connor Bantry White, in 1941 (died 1964) children: two daughters. ![]() British mystery writer known as the "Queen of Crime." Name variations: Phyllis Dorothy James Phyllis Dorothy James White Baroness James of Holland Park. ![]()
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