P. D. James is a crime writer with a major reputation in both Britain and the United States. As well as her mystery novels, she has written two non-mystery novels, a book of non-fiction, a play, short stories, articles, and an autobiography, and has given many talks and lectures. One critic considers her "basically a novelist who happens to put her characters into mystery stories." Her books have been widely distributed in many countries and translated into many languages, including Japanese.