What an inspi­ra­tion! P.D. James will be 89 in August, and her lat­est Adam Dal­gleish novel, The Pri­vate Patient, came out in the fall. She pub­lished the first Dal­gliesh book in 1962. The Globe and Mail invited read­ers to email ques­tions for Dame Phyl­lis and ran her responses in its “Globe Books” section.

I had the great good for­tune of hear­ing P.D. James speak 10 or 15 years ago, and she was charm­ing. She looked more like a sweet lit­tle Eng­lish grand­mother, which I sup­pose she is, than a crime nov­el­ist. But, then, what’s a crime nov­el­ist sup­posed to look like?

P.D. James in 2006