Let Bp(α, β, λ; j) be the class consisting of functions f (z) = z p + ∑ ∞ k=p+1 a k z k , p ∈ N which satisfy Re { α f (j) (z) z p−j + β f (j+1) (z) z p−j−1 + (β − α 2) f (j+2) (z) z p−j−2 } > λ, (z ∈ U = {z : |z| < 1}), for some λ (λ < p!{α+(p−j)β +(p−j)(p−j −1)(β −α)/2}/(p−j)!) and j = 0, 1, ..., p , where p+1−j +2α/(β −α) > 0 or α = β = 1. The extreme points of Bp(α, β, λ; j) are determined and various sharp inequalities related to Bp(α, β, λ; j) are obtained. These include univalence criteria, coefficient bounds, growth and distortion estimates and bounds for certain linear operators. Furthermore, inclusion properties are investigated and estimates on λ are found so that functions of Bp(α, β, λ; j) are p-valent starlike in U. For instance, Re{zf ′′ (z)} > (5 − 12 ln 2)/(44 − 48 ln 2) ≈ −0.309 is sufficient condition for any normalized analytic function f to be starlike in U. The results improve and include a number of known results as their special cases.