Novels

• Cover Her Face (1962)
• A Mind to Murder (1963)
• Unnatural Causes (1967)
• Shroud for a Nightingale (1971)
• The Black Tower (1975)
• Death of an Expert Witness (1977)
• A Taste for Death (1986)
• Devices and Desires (1989)
• Original Sin (1994)
• A Certain Justice (1997)
• Death in Holy Orders (2001)
• The Murder Room (2003)
• The Lighthouse (2005)
• The Private Patient (2008)

• An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1972)
• The Skull Beneath the Skin (1982)

• Innocent Blood (1980)
• The Children of Men (1992)

• Crimes Time Three (1979), later reprinted as Three Complete Novels (1988), comprising:
• Cover Her Face
• A Mind to Murder
• Shroud for a Nightingale
• Murder in Triplicate (1980), comprising:
• Unnatural Causes
• An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
• The Black Tower
• Trilogy of Death (1984), comprising:
• Innocent Blood
• An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
• The Skull Beneath the Skin
• A Dalgliesh Trilogy (1989), comprising:
• Shroud for a Nightingale
• The Black Tower
• Death of an Expert Witness
• A Second Dalgliesh Trilogy (1993), comprising:
• A Mind to Murder
• A Taste for Death
• Devices and Desires
• An Adam Dalgliesh Omnibus (2008), comprising:
• A Taste for Death
• Devices and Desires
• Original Sin

Non-fiction

• The Ratcliffe Highway Murders, 1811 (1971), with Thomas A. Critchley
• Time to Be in Earnest: A Fragment of Autobiography (1999)
• Talking About Detective Fiction (2009)

• 1984 Shroud for a Nightingale
• 1985 Cover Her Face
• Unnatural Causes
• Original Sin
• The Black Tower
• Death of an Expert Witness
• A taste for death
• Devices and Desires
• A Mind to Murder
• A Certain Justice
• 2003 Death in Holy Orders
• 2004 The Murder Room
• 2006 Children of Men (feature film).

Honours

• Officer of the Order of the British Empire, 1983
• Associate Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge, 1986
• Life peerage, Baroness James of Holland Park (of Southwold in the County of Suffolk), 1991
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
• President of the Society of Authors 1997—

• University of Buckingham, 1992
• University of Hertfordshire, 1994
• University of Glasgow, 1995
• Essex, 1996
• University of Durham, 1998
• University of Portsmouth, 1999
• University of London, 1993

• St Hilda's College, Oxford, 1996
• Girton College, Cambridge, 2000
• Downing College, Cambridge, 2000
• Kellogg College, Oxford

Awards

• 1971 Best Novel Award, Mystery Writers of America: Shroud for a Nightingale
• 1971 Crime Writers' Association (CWA) Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction: Shroud for a Nightingale
• 1973 Best Novel Award, Mystery Writers of America: An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
• 1975 CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction: The Black Tower
• 1986 CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction: A Taste for Death
• 1986 Mystery Writers of America Best Novel Award: A Taste for Death
• 1987 CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger (lifetime achievement award)
• 1992 Deo Gloria Award: The Children of Men
• 1999 Grandmaster Award, Mystery Writers of America
• 2002 WH Smith Literary Award (shortlist): Death in Holy Orders
• 2005 British Book Awards Crime Thriller of the Year (shortlist): The Murder Room
• 2007 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award (longlist): The Lighthouse

• Richard B Gidez. P. D. James. Twayne’s English Authors Series, New York: Twayne, 1986.
• Norma Siebenheller. P. D. James. New York: Ungar, 1981.

Interviews

• Salon online magazine (U.S.), 26-2-98. Accessed 2010-09-15
• Guardian newspaper group (U.K.), 4-3-01. Accessed 2010-09-15
• The Sunday Herald newspaper (U.K.), 13-9-08. Accessed 2010-09-15
• CBC News broadcasting (Canada), 22-9-08. Accessed 2010-09-15
• The Globe and Mail newspaper (Canada), 30-1-09. Accessed 2010-09-15
• The Daily Telegraph newspaper (U.K.), 21-7-10. Accessed 2010-09-15
• The Independent newspaper (U.K.), 29-9-08. Accessed 2010-09-15
• The American Spectator magazine (U.S.), 4-1-10. Accessed 2010-09-15