Phyllis Dorothy James was born in Oxford. She left school at the age of sixteen because no-one at home thought it worth educating girls. During the war she married a doctor, who came home in 1948 severely schizophrenic. She had to care for two small daughters and a husband, who was in and out of hospital. She became a medical record keeper and hospital administrator in the NHS. In 1968 she entered the Home Office and worked there in the police department for the forensic science service. In 1972 she moved to the criminal policy department. She is the creator of 'Adam Dalgliesh', a Scotland Yard detective, and of 'Cordelia Gray', a private investigator.