P.D. James claims to have used "the well worn conventions of the mystery to subvert them, stretch them, use them to say something true about [her] characters, about men and women and the society in which they live" in her book `The Skull Beneath the Skin' and her claims are valid enough. She sought out to rewrite the `cosy' style and she achieved this by challenging the traditional conventions, however the novel still employs many conventions of the classical English detective story. James also managed to make reflections on men and women (through her characters), and the societies of which they are products.

James's `subversion' and `stretching' of the conventions of crime fiction is most apparent in her characters -Cordelia, Clarissa and Simon, who transcend their stereotypes. The most obvious appropriation is that of a female detective from a male detective, James has even said herself that...