Times Online cites P.D. James' surprise attack on BBC director Mark Thompson in author profile

P.D. James, author of the Inspector Adam Dalgliesh mystery series and former Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, made the headlines of the London Times Books section Sunday, January 3, 2010. The Times Online article, "A most cheerful twister of the knife," profiled the 89-year-old crime writer, beginning with her New Year's Eve 2009 appearance as a guest editor on Radio 4’s "Today" program.

P.D. James suggested on Radio 4’s "Today" program that
2009 novel, The Private Patient, may not mark the end of
her Inspector Adam Dalgliesh series.

As the excerpt below indicates, James' interview with Mark Thompson, director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), apparently reduced Thompson to a "stuttering wreck." James, a former BBC governor, gracefully attacked Thompson over the issue of the extremely high salaries paid to his company executives. James began the encounter with this statement:

Sometimes [the BBC] seems like a very large and unwieldy ship that’s been floating there since 1920, taking on more and more cargo, building more decks to accommodate it, recruiting more officers, all very comfortably cabined, usually at salaries far greater than their predecessors enjoyed and with a crew somewhat discontented ... and the customers feeling they’ve paid too much for the journey and not quite sure where they’re going or indeed who is the captain.”

The article provided the following description of Thompson's surprised reaction to James' remarks: "It took the wind out of Thompson’s sails. 'We, we, the, the,' he gasped. 'But, but . . .'  He rallied, but no one would have been surprised if he had been led away in handcuffs by Commander Adam Dalgliesh, James’s iconic creation."

In addition to depicting the effective interviewing technique of Baroness James of Holland Park, the Times Online article included a detailed summary of her life and critical responses to her work. It also suggested, based on a remark James made during the "Today" broadcast, that The Private Patient (2008) may not, as previously thought, mark the end of her Inspector Adam Dalgliesh series.

P.D. James also been in the news recently due to the publication of Talking About Detective Fiction (December 2009), her critical analysis of the genre in which she has achieved much acclaim. The article, "P. D. James investigates the detective novel in 'Talking About Detective Fiction" " discuss that work and provides a recording of the author's December 22, 2009 National Public Radio (NPR) appearance in which she spoke about it with NPR's Linda Wertheimer.