The Murder Room

by Matthew Thomas James and P. D. James

Published 1 January 2003
A small, private museum on the edge of Hampstead Heath has been inherited by three siblings, all of whom are required by the family trust to sign any new lease. Without the new lease the museum will have to close. One brother, Neville Dupayne, is adamant he won't sign. And then the housekeeper, Mrs Tally Clutton, discovers Neville's body in his still blazing car...

Innocent Blood

by P. D. James

Published 1 January 1980
Now 18, Philippa, the adopted daughter of Maurice Palfrey, has claimed her birth certificate from the Register Office, and, with it, a terrible discovery. In another part of London, Norman Scase is steeling himself to meet Philippa's mother - the murderer of his daughter.

Time to Be in Earnest

by P. D. James

Published 1 November 1999
In this intriguing and very personal book, part diary, part memoir, P. D. James considers the twelve months of her life between her 77th and 78th birthdays, and looks back on her earlier life.

With all her familiar skills as a writer she recalls what it was like to be a schoolgirl in the 1920s and 1930s in Cambridge, and then giving birth to her second daughter during the worst of the Doodlebug bombardment in London during the war. It follows her work, starting out as an administrator in the National Health Service, then on to the Home Office in the forensic and criminal justice departments. She later served as a Governor of the BBC, an influential member of the British Council, the Arts Council and the Society of Authors, and eventually entering the House of Lords.

Along the way, this diary and personal memoir deals with her burgeoning reputation as a novelist, starting with Cover Her Face in 1962, and with the craft of the classical detective story. She also details the writing of one of her most intriguing and carefully researched books, A Certain Justice. This wonderful memoir will enthral aficionados of detective fiction, and will also appeal to anyone who lived through those turbulent years of the twentieth century.