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This page lists novels by Jonathan Latimer. One novel published using the pen name Peter Coffin is also included.

Cover images are when possible of the first US edition and a recent paperback or digital edition.

By Jonathan Latimer:
- novels

About Jonathan Latimer:
- critical/biographical

Murder in the Madhouse

Jonathan Latimer

1935

A Bill Crane novel.

"In his first case, William Crane goes undercover in a private sanatorium to solve a theft, and makes no secret of the fact that he believes himself to be a great detective, even presenting himself as Edgar Allan Poe's C. Auguste Dupin. Indeed, he manages to dazzle the picaresque staff with his feats of deductive reasoning while consuming alcohol, including martinis and absinthe, in such copious quantities the plot almost feels like filler for a cocktail menu. It comes as some surprise that he is able to stand upright, let alone perform feats of detection that would put more famous literary detectives to shame. But perform he does, and with the greatest aplomb!"

Headed for a Hearse

Jonathan Latimer

1935

A Bill Crane novel.

Also published as The Westland Case.

"With six days remaining until he goes to the electric chair for the murder of his wife, wealthy broker Robert Westland needs help, fast. He insists that he has been framed, and Bill Crane, a private detective with a method and manner all his own, must prove his client's innocence. In a mixture of the humorous and the macabre, Crane's investigation, set against an evocative Depression-era backdrop, turns up more than a few queer characters - including a tight-lipped valet and a dypsomanic widow - who may or may not know something about who really murdered Mrs Westland."

The Lady in the Morgue

Jonathan Latimer

1936

A Bill Crane novel.

"True to form, just as in his previous investigations, Crane drinks his way through his current case, that of a young suicide whose body disappears just as Crane arrives on the scene. But is there any connection between this body, and the disappearance of a young woman from a wealthy New York family? In order to retrieve the missing body, and find the murderer, Crane must run the gauntlet of both local cops and gangsters, who believe he is implicated. As well as a fascinating mystery, The Lady in the Morgue is packed full of atmosphere and period detail, from its opening scene in a morgue to its frank treatment of drug addiction and references to contemporary music."

The Search for My Great-Uncle's Head

Peter Coffin

1937

"When Peter Coffin's mysterious great-uncle Tobias summons the family to his manor in the wilds of Michigan, his aunt warns him to stay away. Peter goes anyway, arriving at the edge of the sprawling estate well after midnight. Wading through the muck in the darkness, he passes a fearsome figure on the road, and when he arrives at the front door, he is greeted by cousins bearing shotguns. An ax-murdering madman is on the loose, but just as dangerous are the creatures Peter will encounter inside the house: his family. When old Tobias is murdered, both his head and his will go missing. The police suspect the ax killer, but Peter knows better. After all, if there is one thing his aunt has taught him, it is that you should never trust a Coffin."

The Dead Don't Care

Jonathan Latimer

1938

A Bill Crane novel.

"Private detective William Crane and his constant (drinking) companion Doc Williams travel to Florida to protect millionaire Penn Essex and his sister Camelia from harm. They have been receiving threatening notes, and Camelia is eventually kidnapped and held to ransom. Piecing clues together with the skill of two veteran jigsaw-puzzle aficionados, our heroes follow a trail of blackmail and debt through a sun-soaked landscape to a surprising conclusion."

Red Gardenias

Jonathan Latimer

1939

A Bill Crane novel.

"Private eye Bill Crane is back, in his fifth and final case, working and drinking as usual with his old sidekick, Doc Williams, and a new member of the gang, Ann Fortune, who is posing as his girlfriend - and disapproves of his carousing. The trio has been sent to a Chicago suburb to investigate a murder and death threats made to the family of an industrial magnate. Alternately impeded and abetted by the many attractive women of the family, Crane cracks the case in his own inimitable way, following a trail of clues including the perfume of gardenias, the lipstick marks on the dead man's face and the crimson cat."

Dark Memory

Jonathan Latimer

1940

"Lew Cable is an impulsive man, lazy and violent, especially when he has been drinking. He is a rotten choice to lead a scientific expedition, but his wife's money convinces the exploration committee that he is the man for the job. Jay Nichols sees right through Cable's bravado, but for the chance to photograph African gorillas in their natural habitat, he is more than willing to sacrifice his pride. If he is not careful, he will give up much more than that. After accidentally killing a female gorilla, Nichols is beset with shame and grief. His judgment impaired, he makes the mistake of venturing into the jungle alone with the trip leader's wife. When they get lost, Nichols quickly finds that an angry husband is far more dangerous than any beast the jungle has to offer."

The Fifth Grave

Jonathan Latimer

1950

This is a heavily abridged version of Solomon's Vineyard.

"Hard-living private detective Karl Craven didn’t ask for trouble when he arrived in Paulton, Missouri—but trouble found him anyway. First it was his partner, Oke Johnson, shot in the head by a silenced rifle. Then it was the femme fatale Ginger Bolton, who took him for a wild ride his first night in town. But it’s Penelope Grayson—the sultry blonde whose uncle hired Craven to shake her loose from a local cult—who takes the prize. Penelope calls herself a Daughter of Solomon, a member of a group mixed up in everything from viticulture to gambling and prostitution. As Craven gets closer to the cult, he realizes that it isn’t the town’s only danger. To solve the case of Oke’s murder and free Penelope from the grasp of Solomon, Craven must also tangle with a crooked police chief, a treacherous lawyer, and a ruthless gangster—all primed to bring him down unless he can outwit them first."

Sinners and Shrouds

Jonathan Latimer

1955

"Sam Clay wakes with a dry mouth, a hammering headache, and only the faintest memory of what he did the night before. He remembers dancing, jazz, taxi rides, and a brandy-fueled ride on a roller coaster, but he has no idea how he got home, and he is lost as to the identity of the straw-haired beauty beside him. He is just about to introduce himself when he notices the blood on the sheets, the wounds on her chest, and the ice-cold pallor of her skin. His bedmate is dead. Clay is a newspaperman, and sharp enough to know that he is being framed. But by whom? Clay will have to stay two steps ahead of the cops to track down this story, which will lead him either to the scoop of a lifetime or to a long nap in a cold grave."

Black is the Fashion for Dying

Jonathan Latimer

1959

Published in the UK as The Mink-Lined Coffin.

"Perhaps it really started when scriptwriter Richard Blake, finishing last-minute revisions in the early hours of the morning, found the naked blonde on his driveway. Nobody ever saw her again, but she turned out to be a vital clue. The movie's fading star is Caresse Garnet, a woman so universally disliked that you could throw a stone in Hollywood and find somebody who hates her: the producer who knows she's box office poison but can't fire her; the ingénue whose scenes are being cut to ribbons on her instructions; the director with a wife and a love-nest ... All these ingredients add up to a story of a murder that couldn't happen - but does."

Solomon's Vineyard

Jonathan Latimer

1988

This is the first complete and unexpurgated edition published in the US. The book was written in 1941 and only published in the 1940's in Europe. An abridged version was published in the US as The Fifth Grave in 1950.

"In this classic noir novel, St Louis private eye Karl Craven, who likes his steak rare, his liquor hard and his women fallen, arrives at the small town of Paulton to protect his wealthy client's daughter from a religious cult. He soon finds himself involved with various unsavoury characters, as well as a femme fatale named Princess, and proves more than a match for the worst of them."

Stewards of the House: The Detective Fiction of Jonathan Latimer

Bill Brubaker

1993

"Jonathan Latimer (1906-1983) wrote nine detective novels. He also wrote or co-wrote 20 film scripts, including such noir classics as the second version of Dasheill Hammett's The Glass Key, Kenneth Fearing's The Big Clock, and Cornell Woolrich's The Night Has a Thousand Eyes. Moving to television writing, he scripted 45 original stories and adapted 50 Eric Stanley Gardner novels for the Perry Mason series."