Edwin Moultrie Lanham was born in

Weatherford, Texas Weatherford ( ) is a city and the county seat of Parker County, Texas, United States. In 2020, its population was 30,854. Weatherford is named after Thomas J. Weatherford, a State senator and advocate for Texas’ secession to the Confederate S ...

on October 11, 1904, in the north central part of Texas where his family settled in the 1868. His family included his grandfather S. W. T. Lanham, the former Governor of Texas. His father Edwin Moultrie Lanham, Sr., died when Lanham was four, and his mother, Elizabeth Stephens Lanham, remarried soon after and joined her husband in New York City. Lanham began writing in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

in 1928, and his writing career spanned many decades, and more than twenty novels. Lanham married a model Irene Stillman in 1928 in Clinton, CT, and had one daughter Evelyn (nicknamed Linda) in 1942. His only books to have received significant levels of literary praise were both written in the 1930s. "The Wind Blew West" is his most critically acclaimed work, and contains a fictional retelling of the Warren Wagon Train Raid of 1871 and the subsequent trial of the Native American defendants. In 1940, Lanham received one of the

Guggenheim Fellowships Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

, which funded his novel "Thunder in the Earth". After World War 2, Lanham ceased writing

literary fiction Literary fiction, mainstream fiction, non-genre fiction or serious fiction is a label that, in the book trade, refers to market novels that do not fit neatly into an established genre (see genre fiction); or, otherwise, refers to novels that are ch ...

, and his entire writing career focused thereafter on mystery writing. These detective stories, moreover, remain popular among

genre fiction Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre. A num ...

readers. In addition, three of his detective stories were turned into Hollywood films entitled: ''

The Senator Was Indiscreet ''The Senator Was Indiscreet'' is a 1947 comedy film, the only movie directed by playwright, theatrical director/producer, humorist, and drama critic George S. Kaufman. Produced by Universal Pictures it starred William Powell as a dim-witted U.S ...

''; ''If I’m Lucky'' 1946 ; and '' It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog'' (1946). Lanham died on July 24, 1979.

Bibliography

* ''Sailors Don't Care'', Contact Edition, Paris, 1929 * ''Wind Blew West'', 1935 * ''Banner at Daybreak'', 1937 * ''Another Ophelia'', 1938 * ''The Stricklands'', 1939 * ''Thunder in the Earth'', 1942 * ''Politics is Murder'', 1947 * ''Slug It Slay'', 1948 ( Published in the UK as ''Headline for Murder'' ) * ''Death of a Corinthian'', 1953 * ''One Murder Too Many'', 1953 * ''The Iron Maiden'', 1954 * ''Murder on My Street'', 1958 * ''Speak Not Evil'', 1958 * ''Six Black Camels'', 1961 * ''Passage to Danger'', 1961 * ''Monkey on a Chain'', 1963 * ''The Clock at 8:16'', 1970

References

Handbook of Texas

Grave

Grave of father

Drawing

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lanham, Edwin 1904 births 1979 deaths Writers from Texas 20th-century American writers 20th-century American male writers