Emma Lathen
Emma Lathen is the pen name of two American businesswomen: economic analyst Mary Jane Latsis (July 12, 1927 – October 29, 1997) and attorney Martha Henissart (born 1929). The pseudonym is constructed from two authors' names:[1] "M" of Mary and "Ma" of Martha, plus "Lat" of Latsis and "Hen" of Henissart.
Henissart and Latsis met as graduate students at Harvard,[2] where Henissart studied law and Latsis studied economics and public administration.[3][4] Latsis grew up in Chicago and graduated from Wellesley College.[3] Henissart received her B.A. in physics from Mount Holyoke College in 1950.[5][4] Latsis worked for the CIA and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization and taught economics at her alma mater, Wellesley College. Henissart practiced law in New York and then returned to the Boston area to become the chief legal counsel for Raytheon. When they began writing mysteries in the early 1960s they decided to use a pseudonym and maintain the secret of their identities to avoid any conflict with employers and clients.[4] Their identities as co-authors of the popular Lathen books remained a secret until 1977.[1][4]
As Lathen, they wrote 24 mystery novels starring John Putnam Thatcher, a Wall Street banker. According to Latsis, "We decided on a banker because there is nothing on God's earth a banker can't get into."[4] They also wrote under the pseudonym R. B. Dominic; the 7 Dominic stories feature Congressman Benton Safford as the sleuth. Each book features events in a specific industry or activity with which Thatcher or Safford become involved in the course of their work. The books often refer to specific public events in their plotting; for example, When in Greece is mostly set in that country during the Colonels' Revolution,[3] and Going for the Gold involves the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid. Others relate to more general social and other trends, such as Death Shall Overcome[1] which links with the Civil Rights Movement.[4]
For each book they determined the basic structure and major characters, then wrote alternate chapters, with Latsis writing the first chapter, and Henissart the last. They would then do a joint rewrite to eliminate inconsistencies or conflicts.[4]
At the time of Latsis' death in 1997, the duo were eighty percent through a new book using the setting of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, but Henissart elected not to finish it.[4]
Characterization
Their recurring characters are especially engaging.[6] The books' supporting casts were written with "humor and authenticity."[1]
John Putnam Thatcher is senior vice president of the Sloan Guaranty Trust, the "third largest bank in the world"[7] (at least until East is East), a "youthful sixty"[7] in Accounting for Murder and unaging in subsequent novels. His unsentimental view of the world allows him to apply his banker's knowledge to the crimes that pop up.[4] His nominal superior is the bank's president, Bradford Withers (married to Carrie), a socialite and dunderhead; the Chairman of the Board George Lancer has more depth, but fewer amusing scenes, serving more as a foil for his wife Lucy. Thatcher's secretary is the redoubtable Rose Theresa Corsa, who fends off interruptions from the bank officers who report to Thatcher and generally runs his working hours (and much of the rest of his life) while regarding his involvement in detective work with disapproval. His subordinates include Charlie Trinkham (raffish), Everett Gabler (severe), and Walter Bowman (corpulent and curious). The very junior trust officer Kenneth Nicolls often appears, perhaps because the first Emma Lathen novel detailed how he met his wife Jane, while subsequent books mention details of his life such as purchase of his first home, birth of a son and a daughter, and first international business trip.
Critical reception
Lathen's books were consistently well received. "The authors have a distinctive talent for writing clearly and entertainingly about complicated financial intrigues, for combining these business matters with current events, and for creating tightly plotted mysteries that produce fascinating and civilized novels."[8] Author and critic Anthony Boucher praised Lathen's "extraordinary ability to clarify the most intricate financial shenanigans so that even I can understand them".[2] The London Times described Lathen as "a sort of Jane Austen of the detective novel, crisp, detached, mocking, economical".[2]
Awards
- 1967: Gold Dagger Award for Murder Against the Grain
- 1983: Edgar Award, Ellery Queen Award
- 1997: Agatha Award, Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievement
Bibliography
as Emma Lathen
- Banking on Death (1961)
- A Place for Murder (1963)
- Accounting for Murder (1964); Silver Dagger Award
- Murder Makes the Wheels Go Round (1966)
- Death Shall Overcome (1966)
- Murder Against the Grain (1967); Gold Dagger Award
- A Stitch in Time (1968)
- Come to Dust (1968)
- When in Greece (1969); shortlisted for Edgar Award
- Murder to Go (1969)
- Pick Up Sticks (1970)
- Ashes to Ashes (1971)
- The Longer the Thread (1971)
- Murder Without Icing (1972)
- Sweet and Low (1974)
- By Hook or by Crook (1975)
- Double, Double, Oil and Trouble (1978)
- Going for Gold (1981)
- Green Grow the Dollars (1982)
- Something in the Air (1988)
- East is East (1991)
- Right on the Money (1993)
- Brewing Up a Storm (1996)
- A Shark Out of Water (1997)
as R. B. Dominic
- Murder, Sunny Side Up (1968)
- Murder in High Place (1969)
- There Is No Justice (aka Murder out of Court) (1971)
- Epitaph for a Lobbyist (1974)
- Murder Out of Commission (1976)
- The Attending Physician (1980)
- Unexpected Developments (aka A Flaw in the System) (1983)
References
- ^ a b c d Murphy, Bruce (December 9, 1999). "LATHEN, EMMA". The Encyclopedia of Murder and Mystery. Springer. p. 290. ISBN 9780230107359.
- ^ a b c Steinbrunner, Chris; Penzler, Otto, eds. (1976). Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection. Routledge. p. 241.
- ^ a b c Thomas, Robert McG. Jr. (October 31, 1997). "M.J. Latsis, 70, Emma Lathen Writing Team Collaborator". The New York Times. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Nyren, Neil (12 December 2018). "Emma Lathen: A Crime Reader's Guide to the Classics: Rediscovering the Queen(s) of Business Crime". CrimeReads. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
- ^ Barber-Just, Christina (December 9, 2012). "Martha Henissart '50: Anonymous No More". MHC Alumnae Association. Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
- ^ Binyon, T. J. (1989). Murder Will Out: The Detective in Fiction. Oxford University Press. pp. 69–70. ISBN 0-19-219223-X.
- ^ a b Lathen, Emma (1964). Accounting for Murder. New York, New York, USA: Pocket Books. p. 9.
- ^ Swanson, Jean; James, Dean (1998). Killer Books: A Reader's Guide to Exploring the Popular World of Mystery and Suspense. New York: Berkley Prime Crime. ISBN 0425162184.
External links
- Works by Emma Lathen at Open Library
- v
- t
- e
- Elizabeth George (1988)
- Jill Churchill (1989)
- Katherine Hall Page (1990)
- Mary Willis Walker (1991)
- Barbara Neely (1992)
- Nevada Barr (1993)
- Jeff Abbott (1994)
- Jeanne M. Dams (1995)
- Anne George (1996)
- Sujata Massey (1997)
- Robin Hathaway (1998)
- Donna Andrews (1999)
- Rosemary Stevens (2000)
- Sarah Strohmeyer (2001)
- Julia Spencer-Fleming (2002)
- Jacqueline Winspear (2003)
- Harley Jane Kozak (2004)
- Laura Durham (2005)
- Sandra Parshall (2006)
- Hank Phillippi Ryan (2007)
- G. M. Malliet (2008)
- Alan Bradley (2009)
- Avery Aames (2010)
- Sara J. Henry (2011)
- Susan M. Boyer (2012)
- Leslie Budewitz (2013)
- Terrie Farley Moran (2014)
- Art Taylor (2015)
- Cynthia Kuhn (2016)
- Kellye Garrett (2017)
- Dianne Freeman and Shari Randall (2018) (tie)
- Tara Laskowski (2019)
- Erica Neubauer (2020)
- Hank Phillippi Ryan (2013)
- Hank Phillippi Ryan (2014)
- Margaret Maron (2015)
- Louise Penny (2016)
- Louise Penny (2017)
- Ellen Byron (2018)
- Ann Cleeves (2019)
- Louise Penny (2020)
- Carolyn G. Hart (1988)
- Elizabeth Peters (1989)
- Nancy Pickard (1990)
- Nancy Pickard (1991)
- Margaret Maron (1992)
- Carolyn Hart (1993)
- Sharyn McCrumb (1994)
- Sharyn McCrumb (1995)
- Margaret Maron (1996)
- Kate Ross (1997)
- Laura Lippman (1998)
- Earlene Fowler (1999)
- Margaret Maron (2000)
- Rhys Bowen (2001)
- Donna Andrews (2002)
- Carolyn Hart (2003)
- Jacqueline Winspear (2004)
- Katherine Hall Page (2005)
- Nancy Pickard (2006)
- Louise Penny (2007)
- Louise Penny (2008)
- Louise Penny (2009)
- Louise Penny (2010)
- Margaret Maron (2011)
- Louise Penny (2012)
- Rhys Bowen (2011)
- Catriona McPherson (2012)
- Caroline and Charles Todd (2013)
- Rhys Bowen (2014)
- Laurie R. King (2015)
- Catriona McPherson (2016)
- Rhys Bowen (2017)
- Sujata Massey (2018)
- Edith Maxwell (2019)
- Rhys Bowen (2020)
- Barbara D'Amato (1993)
- Jean Swanson and Dean James (1994)
- Alzina Stone Dale (1995)
- Willeta L. Heisin (1996)
- Willeta L. Heisin (1997)
- Alzina Stone Dale (1998)
- Daniel Stashower (1999)
- Jim Huang (2000)
- Tony Hillerman (2001)
- Jim Huang (2002)
- Elizabeth Peters and Kristen Whitbread (2003)
- Jack French (2004)
- Melanie Rehak (2005)
- Chris Roerden (2006)
- Jon Lellenberg (2007)
- Kathy Lynn Emerson (2008)
- Elena Santangelo (2009)
- John Curran (2010)
- Leslie Budewitz (2011)
- John Connolly (2012)
- Daniel Stashower (2013)
- Hank Phillippi Ryan (2014)
- Martin Edwards (2015)
- Jane K. Cleland (2016)
- Mattias Bostrom (2017)
- Jane Cleland (2018)
- Mo Moulton (2019)
- Christina Lane (2020)
- Robert Barnard (1988)
- Sharyn McCrumb (1989)
- Joan Hess (1990)
- Margaret Maron (1991)
- Aaron Elkins and Charlotte Elkins (1992)
- M. D. Lake (1993)
- Dorothy Cannell (1994)
- Elizabeth Daniels (1995)
- Carolyn Wheat (1996)
- M. D. Lake (1997)
- Barbara D'Amato (1998)
- Nancy Pickard (1999)
- Jan Burke (2000)
- Katherine Hall Page (2001)
- Margaret Maron and Marcia Talley (2002)
- Elizabeth Foxwell (2003)
- Elaine Viets (2004)
- Marcia Talley (2005)
- Toni Kelner (2006)
- Donna Andrews (2007)
- Dana Cameron (2008)
- Hank Phillippi Ryan (2009)
- Mary Jane Maffini (2010)
- Dana Cameron (2011)
- Dana Cameron (2012)
- Art Taylor (2013)
- Art Taylor (2014)
- Barb Goffman (2015)
- Art Taylor (2016)
- Gigi Pandian (2017)
- Leslie Budewitz and Tara Laskowski (2018) (tie)
- Shawn Reilly Simmons (2019)
- Barb Goffman (2020)
- Cindy Callaghan (2018)
Young Adult Fiction
- Penny Warner (2001)
- Daniel J. Hale & Matthew LaBrot (2002)
- Kathleen Karr (2003)
- Blue Balliett (2004)
- Peter Abrahams (2005)
- Nancy Means Wright (2006)
- Sarah Masters Buckey (2007)
- Chris Grabenstein (2008)
- Chris Grabenstein (2009)
- Sarah Smith (2010)
- Chris Grabenstein (2011)
- Penny Warner (2012)
- Chris Grabenstein (2013)
- Penny Warner (2014)
- Amanda Flower (2015)
- Penny Warner (2016)
- Cindy Callaghan (2017)
- Frances Schoonmaker (2019)
- Richard Narvaez (2020)
for Lifetime Achievement
- Phyllis A. Whitney (1990)
- Mignon G. Eberhart (1994)
- Mary Stewart (1996)
- Emma Lathen (1997)
- Charlotte MacLeod (1998)
- Patricia Moyes (1999)
- Dick Francis (2000)
- Mildred Benson (2001)
- Tony Hillerman (2002)
- Barbara Mertz, Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels (2003)
- Marian Babson (2004)
- H.R.F. Keating (2005)
- Robert Barnard (2006)
- Carolyn Hart (2007)
- Peter Lovesey (2008)
- Anne Perry (2009)
- Mary Higgins Clark (2010)
- Sue Grafton (2011)
- Simon Brett (2012)
- Aaron Elkins (2013)
- Dorothy Cannell, Joan Hess and Margaret Maron (2014)
- Sara Paretsky (2015)
- Katherine Hall Page (2016)
- Charlaine Harris (2017)
- Nancy Pickard (2018)
Poirot Award
- David Suchet (2003)
- Ruth Cavin (2004)
- Angela Lansbury (2005)
- Douglas G. Greene (2006)
- Janet Hutchings and Linda Landrigan (2008)
- Kate Stine and Brian Skupin (2009)
- William Link (2010)
- Janet Rudolph (2011)
- Lee Goldberg (2012)
- Tom Schantz (2014)
- Barbara G. Peters (2016)
- Martin Edwards (2017)
- Brenda Blethyn (2018)