The novelist, who wrote a string of books about detective Adam Dalgliesh, sat in the House of Lords for many years as Baroness James of Holland Park.

She spent 30 years working as a civil servant before becoming a full-time writer.

In a statement, James's 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."

Among her recent work was a new novel updating Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice.

Death Comes To Pemberley pitched Austen's characters, Mr Darcy and his wife Elizabeth, into the middle of a murder mystery, and was later filmed by the BBC.

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.