Gwendoline Butler, née Williams (19 August 1922 – 5 January 2013) was a British

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, pla ...

mystery fiction Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a re ...

and

romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and Romance (love), romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimis ...

s since 1956, she also used the pseudonym Jennie Melville. Credited for inventing the "woman's

police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eithe ...

", is well known for her series of Inspector John Coffin novels as Gwendoline Butler, and by female detective Charmian Daniels as Jennie Melville.

Biography

Born Gwendoline Williams on 19 August 1922 in

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the boroughs, in whole or in part, of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Richmond, Southwark, ...

, England, daughter of Alice (Lee) and Alfred Edward Williams., her younger twin brothers are also authors. She was educated at

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located on the banks of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more forma ...

, where she read History, and later lectured there. On 16 October 1949, she married Dr Lionel Harry Butler (1923–1981), a professor of medieval history at University of St. Andrews and historian, Fellow of All Souls and Principal of

Royal Holloway College Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

. The marriage had a daughter, Lucilla Butler. In 1956 her John Coffin series of novels began publication under her married name, Gwendoline Butler. In 1962, she decided to use her grandmother's name, Jennie Melville as a pseudonym to sign her Charmian Daniels novels. In addition to her mystery series, she also wrote romantic novels. In 1981, her novel ''The Red Staircase'' won the

Romantic Novel of the Year Award The Romantic Novel of the Year Award is an award for romance novels since 1960, presented by Romantic Novelists' Association, and since 2003, the novellas, also won the Love Story of the Year (now RoNA Rose Award). In 2018, awards were given t ...

by the

Romantic Novelists' Association The Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) is the professional body that represents authors of romantic fiction in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1960 by Denise Robins (first president), Barbara Cartland (first vice-president), Vivian Stuar ...

. Gwendoline Butler can claim to be one of the most versatile women crime novelists. Her books have scored in four categories: modern detective stories, Victorian mysteries, Gothic stories and romantic novels. In 1973 the Crime Writers Association (CWA) awarded her the Silver Dagger for ‘A Coffin for Pandora’. A former member of the Committee of the CWA, a member of the Detection Club, she took her degree in history at Oxford and her training in research ensures complete accuracy in every book. She died on 5 January 2013.Times obit retrieved 23 January 2013
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Bibliography

As Gwendoline Butler

John Coffin Series

The leading detective in the first three stories was an Inspector Winter. He appeared too in the fourth story ‘The Dull Dead’ (1958) but by this time the young John Coffin (described as “mercurial”) had made his first appearance, and it was with Coffin that Gwendoline Butler continued. There was a quantum leap for John Coffin, in 1989. Starting with the book ‘Coffin in the Black Museum’ his creator took him from south London across the Thames and planted him in east London, in an imaginary district that was obviously based on Docklands. 0 # Receipt for Murder (1956) # Dead in a Row (1957) # The Murdering Kind (1958) # The Dull Dead (1958) # The Interloper (1959) # Death Lives Next Door (1960) a.k.a. Dine and Be Dead # Make Me a Murderer (1961) # Coffin in Oxford (1962) # A Coffin for Baby (1963) # Coffin Waiting (1964) # Coffin in Malta (1964) # A Nameless Coffin (1966) # Coffin Following (1968) # Coffin's Dark Number (1969) # A Coffin from the Past (1970) # A Coffin for Pandora (1973) # A Coffin for the Canary (1974) # Coffin On the Water (1986) # Coffin in Fashion (1987) # Coffin Underground (1988) # Coffin in the Museum of Crime (1989) a.k.a. Coffin in the Black Museum # Coffin and the Paper Man (1990) # Coffin on Murder Street (1991) # Cracking Open a Coffin (1992) # A Coffin For Charley (1993) # The Coffin Tree (1994) # A Dark Coffin (1995) # A Double Coffin (1996) # Coffin's Game (1997) # A Grave Coffin (1998) # Coffin's Ghost (1999) # A Cold Coffin (2000) # A Coffin for Christmas (2000) # Coffin Knows the Answer (2002)

Major Mearns and Sergeant Denny Series

# The King Cried Murder (1999) # Dread Murder (2006)

Single novels

* Sarsen Place (1974) * Olivia (1975) * The Vesey Inheritance (1975) * The Brides of Friedberg (1977) a.k.a. Meadowsweet * The Red Staircase (1979) * Albion Walk (1982) * Butterfly (1996) * Let There Be Love (1997)

As Jennie Melville

Charmian Daniels Series

# Come Home and Be Killed (1962) # Burning Is a Substitute for Loving (1963) # Murderers' Houses (1964) # There Lies Your Love (1965) # Nell Alone (1966) # A Different Kind of Summer (1967) # A New Kind of Killer, an Old Kind of Death (1970) a.k.a. A New Kind of Killer (US title) # Murder Has a Pretty Face (1981) # Death in the Garden (1987) a.k.a. Murder in the Garden (US title) # Windsor Red (1988) # A Cure for Dying (1989) a.k.a. Making Good Blood (US title) # Witching Murder (1990) # Footsteps in the Blood (1990) # Dead Set (1992) # Whoever Has the Heart (1993) # Baby Drop (1994) a.k.a. A Death in the Family (US title) # The Morbid Kitchen (1995) # The Woman Who Was Not There (1996) # Revengeful Death (1998) # Stone Dead (1998) # Dead Again (2000) # Loving Murder (2001)

Single novels

* Hunter in the Shadows (1969) * The Summer Assassin (1971) * Ironwood (1972) * Nun's Castle (1973) * Raven's Forge (1975) * Dragon's Eye (1976) * Axwater (1978) a.k.a. Tarot's Tower (US title) * Painted Castle (1982) * Hand of Glass (1983) * Listen to the Children (1986) * Complicity (2000)

References

External links

Gwendoline Butler at Fantastic Fiction

Interview
by John Kennedy Melling at ''Crime Time''

(April 2011)

(February 2014) {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Gwendoline 1922 births 2013 deaths Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford English crime fiction writers English romantic fiction writers RoNA Award winners Members of the Detection Club 20th-century English novelists 21st-century British novelists 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English women writers Women romantic fiction writers English women novelists Women mystery writers Pseudonymous women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers

Biography

Bibliography

As Gwendoline Butler

John Coffin Series

Major Mearns and Sergeant Denny Series

Single novels

As Jennie Melville

Charmian Daniels Series

Single novels

References

Further reading

External links