Which mystery writer created the fictional detective Adam Dalgliesh?

The famed mystery writer who created the fictional police detective Adam Dalgliesh was P. D. James. Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, Order of the British Empire (OBE), Fellows Remembered, The Royal Society of Literature (FRSL), known professionally as P. D. James, was a successful English crime writer.

Most of James's books involve one of two characters. Adam Dalgliesh is a police inspector in Scotland Yard (London's police headquarters). He is also a published poet. The second character is Cordelia Gray, a young private detective introduced in 'An Unsuitable Job for a Woman' (1972). In addition to their own individual mysteries, Dalgliesh and Gray appear together in some of James's books.

P. D. James was born in Oxford and educated at Cambridge High School for Girls. From 1949 to 1968 she worked in the UK National Health Service, the Home Office of the Police, and the Criminal Policy Department. Her work experiences were greatly used in her novels.

During her life, she received many literary awards and public honors. She was even able to win awards for her crime writing in Britain, America, Italy, and Scandinavia, including the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award and The National Arts Club Medal of Honor for Literature (US).

P. D. James published fourteen books and many short stories. She was made OBE in 1983 and became a baroness in 1991. She died in November 2014 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. She died at the age of 94.