This is my last post for 2014, and in looking back over the year I wanted to remember one of the writers who died this year, British crime writer P.D. James. She was 94 yrs old.[embed]https://www.flickr.com/photos/faberandfaber/2850161383/in/photolist-hz4bs4-dYym4s-hj7CKw-6uNvpi-foSfQN-qgKqcG-5kRPFv-5kVZ6S-5kVZcA-79SyMm-4KgvRD-dg9n2f-7ysTcK-5kVZ7S-comjZA-4jXhk9-5kVZa9-5kVZ3Y-5kRJ2x-5kVZbN-sqogs-eWKRc2-bZK2nf-5WB5Lf-dYt7mi-dYyiQW-foBZ6R-5kRHX2-4KkMWy-4KgvN6-4KkMPS-8Xwe85-4KkMSS-4KgvQR-b8zRq8-4qHvDH-h2yx39-632mMr-xCL7R-dRK26C-9DWyQB-8AZfWa-6YNAoi-aoot2o-eYh2vr-cbMyUm-8Y75kZ-72R6om-aootXf-D1yEy[/embed]Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, (3 August 1920 – 27 November 2014), known as P. D. James, was one of the first crime writers I ever read. Although P.D. James didn't publish her first book until she was 42, she went on to become one of the most prolific crime writer's in the UK and took the genre far beyond her predecessors of Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers.Many of P.D. James's novels take place against the backdrop of UK bureaucracies, such as the criminal justice system and the National Health Service, in which she worked for decades starting in the 1940s. Two years after the publication of Cover Her Face in 1962, she took a position as a civil servant within the criminal section of the Home Office. She worked in government service until her retirement in 1979.I thought this quote was great for looking back over the year.
“It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life.”P.D. James, A Taste for Death
I was born in England, so know exactly what P.D. James is talking about. But I think it probably applies to all of us. We have an image of things in our mind, which may in fact just be a quintessential moment that has existed, but doesn't happen too often. And so our faulty memory becomes the truth with which we live.It's hard to remember everything that's happened over the span of a year, good and bad. But if we don't get it quite right, what's wrong with having memories that might be a little rosy? Maybe that's just me. After all, I am a fiction writer.
Thanks to all my readers for your support and comments throughout the year, and I look forward to seeing you in 2015.
Happy Holidays!
Which writer or celebrity do you most remember who died in 2014?
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