Peter James: ‘I wrote 100 pages and made millions’

Peter James is a crime thriller writer who found fame in 1988 with his novel Possession
Peter James is a crime thriller writer who found fame in 1988 with his novel Possession - Andrew Crowley

Peter James, 75, is a crime thriller writer who found fame in 1988 with his novel Possession, which became an instant hit.

He has written 43 novels, including the crime thriller series featuring Brighton-based Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, which has been adapted for the hit ITV series Grace, starring John Simm.

His books have sold over 21 million copies worldwide and been translated into 38 languages, with 19 Sunday Times No 1 bestsellers.

Today he lives in Jersey with his wife Lara.

How did your childhood influence your attitude to money?

We had a factory in Brighton where we made gloves, including the Queen’s gloves, and aged 13 to 14 I worked there in the holidays, inspecting cloth.

My father was an accountant; my mother, Cornelia James, was a refugee from Austria in 1938. She started making gloves in 1946, and by 1950 employed 400 people.

And we had a factory in Bury St Edmunds making ties and neckwear. It was a flourishing business but with the advent of imports from the Far East it struggled and they had money worries in old age.

We still made the Queen’s gloves but most of the glove making was being massively undercut. In the ’70s you could import a pair of gloves for 50p that cost £10 to make in England.

Now my sister co-runs Cornelia James and we’ve supplied Catherine, Princess of Wales.

Queen Elizabeth II wearing Cornelia James gloves during an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace
Queen Elizabeth II wearing Cornelia James gloves during an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace - Dominic Lipinski/PA

What was your first job?

I was Orson Welles’s housekeeper. He paid me 10 shillings an hour. I was 19, at film school, living in a tiny flat in London. My dad gave me enough for £8 rent, food and train fare.

I met this posh girl I wanted to invite out so I had to earn money. I saw an advert in a newsagent’s “Cleaner wanted. Apply Mrs Welles.”

She said: “I was expecting a female.”

I was scrubbing the skirting board when all this mail arrived addressed to Orson Welles. Then the door opened and in he walked.

He looked down, said, “Good morning”, and walked upstairs and shut the door. Two days later I arrived full of questions but he’d gone to America.

Harry Lime played by Orson Welles
'I was Orson Welles's housekeeper. He paid me 10 shillings an hour' - Uber Bilder / Alamy Stock Photo

When did you realise writing might be your future?

I never had much confidence when I was a child.

I wrote three novels in the early ’80s that didn’t sell well. Then when Possession got to number two on The Times bestseller list I thought maybe I do have some talent.

Why did you leave the film industry?

After film school I went to Toronto – in 1970 in England it was impossible to get a job in film and television.

I worked as a gofer on Polka Dot Door, a daily programme for pre-school children. The producer came in a panic one day saying: “The writer’s sick. Your CV says you won your school’s poetry prize, can you write today’s show?”