P.D. James

P.D. James' many books include the Adam Dalgliesh mysteries. Her latest book, Talking About Detective Fiction, was published in 2009.

From her interview with Craig Sisterson:

Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?

Well, I do like Morse, Colin Dexter’s Morse. And I don’t know whether that’s popular in New Zealand, but it’s extremely popular here… They’re Oxford stories, and I was born in Oxford and know the city, and I suppose that’s one of the big attractions of the Morse series. [The TV adaptations] are very, very well done, and they’re also very true to the books, and also some of them are special to the - you know, they didn’t have their origin in a book by Colin, the company has carried on with the character. Very, very successfully I think.

What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?

Well, I suppose The Wind in the Willows, I liked very much. I loved The Wind in the Willows, which I guess was quite a reassuring book, as I could cuddle up with the little animals in bed, and feel safe. But the actual reading, the first thing I ever read were comics. I think that’s often true with children. My mother used to buy them for me, there was one called Tiger Tim, and one called The Rainbow, and I was desperate to be able to read, because as soon as they came into the house I’d say “Mummy, read me another story”, and she was usually busy. And then one day, I just found, and I remember in huge excitement, that I could read - [comics] were of course very easy, because you had the picture and then the words underneath, you know, and you just recognise the words in relation to the picture. But I can remember the huge excitement of...[read on]

A Certain Justice by P.D. James appears among John Mortimer's five best books about law and literature.

--Marshal Zeringue