P. D. James is the author of nineteen previous books, many of which have been adapted for television in the United States; her novelThe Children of Menbecame an internationally successful film in 2006. She spent thirty years in various departments of the British Civil Service, including the Police and Criminal Law Departments of the Home Office. She has served as a magistrate and as a governor of the BBC. In 2000 she celebrated her eightieth birthday and published her autobiography,A Time to Be in Earnest.The recipient of many prizes and honors, she was created Baroness James of Holland Park in 1991. She lives in London and Oxford.