Gwendoline Butler
Born 19 August 1922 · Died 05 January 2013
From London, England, United Kingdom · Nationality: United Kingdom · Writes fiction
Gwendoline Williams was born on 19 August 1922 in Blackheath, South London, England, UK, daughter of Alice (Lee) and Alfred Edward Williams, her younger twin brothers are also authors. Educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she read History, and later lectured there. On 16th 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. The marriage had a daughter, Lucilla Butler.
In 1956, she started to published John Coffin novels under her married name, Gwendoline Butler. In 1962, she decided used her grandmother's name, Jennie Melville as pseudonym to sing her Charmian Daniels novels. She was credited for inventing the "woman's police procedural". 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 by the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Books by Gwendoline Butler in order
Books by Gwendoline Butler in the order they were published, from Receipt for Murder (1956) to A Double Coffin (1997).
- 1Receipt for Murder
Receipt for Murder1956 - 2Death Lives Next Door
Death Lives Next Door1960 - 3Coffin in Oxford
Coffin in Oxford1962 - 4A Nameless Coffin
A Nameless Coffin1966 - 5Coffin Following
Coffin Following1968 - 6Hunter in the Shadows
Hunter in the Shadows1969 - 7Nun's Castle
Nun's Castle1973 - 8Olivia
Olivia1974 - 9Sarsen Place
Sarsen Place1974 - 10Raven's Forge
Raven's Forge1975 - 11The Vesey Inheritance
The Vesey Inheritance1975 - 12Dragon's Eye
Dragon's Eye1976 - 13Meadowsweet
Meadowsweet1977 - 14Tarot's Tower
Tarot's Tower1978 - 15The Red Staircase
The Red Staircase1979 - 16Murder Has a Pretty Face
Murder Has a Pretty Face1981 - 17The Hand of Glass
The Hand of Glass1983 - 18Coffin On The Water
Coffin On The Water1986 - 19Coffin in the Black Museum
Coffin in the Black Museum1989 - 20Witching Murder
Witching Murder1990 - 21Cracking Open a Coffin
Cracking Open a Coffin1992 - 22Dead Set
Dead Set1992 - 23Whoever Has the Heart
Whoever Has the Heart1993 - 24A Double Coffin
A Double Coffin1997