PD James

For decades, going back to the 1970s, one of the most popular contemporary British mystery writers was PD James. In a style sometimes reminiscent of Agatha Christie, James wrote about cases solved by her fictional detective she named Adam Dalgliesh.   He was a character she named after a teacher at Cambridge High School. Book after book, a reputation and popularity grew, until in 1991 James was amed a Life Peer in Britain's House of Lords. She was Baroness James of Holland Park.