James's style is every bit as elegant here as it is in her fiction: she presents her views with a modesty that makes it hard to take exception to them, coupled with an intellectual vigour that makes it impossible not to take them seriously. At almost 90, with more than 20 books behind her, she remains a writer of tremendous energy and intelligence, and this essay comes as no mean addition to her oeuvre.

Slim as it is, Talking About Detective Fiction has biblical heft. Like her own novels, the style is clean, thoughtful and full of grace.

[This book dispels] any doubts as to whether the nearly 90-year-old, demure-looking P. D. James has the toughness to dissect the world of crime writing.

Fans of Baroness James’s 20 novels will be rewarded by plenty of... insights into how she approaches her chosen profession, as well as some intelligent and well-read discussion of a genre that has perhaps never been more popular.