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Faber to publish Christmas mysteries by P D James
Faber is set to publish a collection of short stories, The Mistletoe Murders by “Queen of Crime” P D James.
James, who died in November 2014, was a Cambridge-educated award-winning crime writer of 20 novels, who rose to fame for her detective series featuring suave poet and police officer hero, Adam Dalgliesh.
The author was frequently commissioned by newspapers and magazines to write a special short story for Christmas and Faber’s collection will see four of James’ best Christmas stories brought together in one volume for the first time. The hardback book of James’ atmospheric “sparkling prose” and “enjoyable puzzles to keep the reader guessing” will be published in October 2016.
The stories range from the title story about a strained country house gathering on Christmas eve, another about an illicit affair that ends in murder, and two cases for Adam Dalgliesh.
Faber acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada. Faber c.e.o. Stephen Page concluded the deal with Carol Heaton at Greene & Heaton.
Page said: “Not surprisingly, P D James mastered the short story form alongside her extraordinary novels. For the first time Faber is collecting four of these together in book form for her readers. They will find here the same fine writing and ingenious plots that distinguished all of her work. We couldn't be more proud to celebrate Phyllis's life and work in this way.”
James, born in Oxford in 1920, won awards for crime writing in Britain, America, Italy and Scandinavia, including the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award and The National Arts Club Medal of Honor for Literature in the US. She received honorary degrees from seven British universities, was awarded an OBE in 1983 and was also created a life peer in 1991. In 1997 she was elected president of the Society of Authors, stepping down from the post in August 2013. She died in 2014, aged 94.
