PD James, the acclaimed author famous for her series of detective novels, has died aged 94.

Her publisher confirmed she passed away peacefully at her home in Oxford this morning.

In a statement, James' publishers Faber & Faber said: "This is a very sad day for us at Faber. It is difficult to express our profound sadness at losing PD James, one of the world's great writers and a Faber author since her first publication in 1962.

"She was so very remarkable in every aspect of her life, an inspiration and great friend to us all. It is a privilege to publish her extraordinary books. Working with her was always the best of times, full of joy. We will miss her hugely."

A life peer in the House of Lords, Phyllis Dorothy James  was the detective novelist behind Death comes to Pemberley and Children of Men and host of other top selling novels.

She rose to fame for her series of detective series starring policeman and poet Adam Dalgliesh Born in Oxford to tax inspector Sidney James, she was Baronesss James of Holland Park and was life peer in the House of Lords. She was an honorary fellow of St Hilda's College and Kellogg College and appeared at Oxford Libterary Festival in 2012 to speak about her work.

James had to leave school at the age of 16 to work, because her family did not believe in higher education for girls.

She worked in a tax office for three years, and later found a job as an assistant stage manager for a theatre group.

In 1941, she married Ernest Connor Bantry White, an army doctor. They have two daughters, Claire and Jane.

During the 1980s many of James' mystery novels were adapted for television by Anglia Television for the ITV network in the UK.

Her novel The Children of Men (1992) was the basis for the feature film Children of Men (2006 starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine.

Despite substantial changes from the book, James - who is survived by her husband and two daughters and grandchildren - was reportedly pleased with the adaptation and proud to be associated with the film.

A former governor of the BBC, James famously confronted its then director-general Mark Thompson during an edition of the Radio 4 Today programme about the excessive pay packets given to some of its top executives.

She grilled him as she took the helm as guest editor of the show, telling him it was "really quite extraordinary" that 37 BBC bosses earned more than the Prime Minister.

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