PD James hailed from Oxford and received her education at Cambridge High School for Girls. She spent almost twenty years working in the National Health Service before moving on to the Home Office. Starting in the Police Department and later transitioning to the Criminal Policy Department, James utilized her varied experiences in her captivating novels. She was esteemed as a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Arts. Additionally, she held positions as a Governor of the BBC, a member of the Arts Council, and served as a magistrate in Middlesex and London. Honored as an Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, James garnered numerous accolades for her crime writing, including prestigious awards in Britain, America, Italy, and Scandinavia. She was granted honorary degrees from seven British universities, received an OBE in 1983, and was elevated to a life peer in 1991. In 1997, she assumed the role of President of the Society of Authors, a position she held until August 2013.
