🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Gwendoline Butler
Gwendoline Butler was a British author of romance and mystery fiction books since 1956. She was born on 19 August 1922 and died on 5 January 2013 aged 90-years. She spent her childhood years in south London, England with her parents Alice and Alfred Edward Williams. Gwendoline attended Lady Margaret Hall School in Oxford where she majored in History studies and later years, she became a lecturer and lectured in the same institution. Butler is popularly attributed for introducing “woman police procedural”, which is depicted in Charmian Daniels and John Coffin book series. On October 16, 1949, the author met the love of her life, Dr. Lionel Harry Butler- a Historian, a professor at the University of St. Andrews and the Principal of Royal Holloway College.
All Book Series by Gwendoline Butler
Coffin In The Museum of Crime / Coffin in the Black Museum
Book 21 of 33 · published 1989
Hunter In The Shadows
Series opener · book 1 of 18 · published 1969 Pen name · Jennie Melville
Listen to the Children
Book 15 of 18 · published 1986 Pen name · Jennie Melville
Complicity
Latest in the series · book 18 of 18 · published 2000 Pen name · Jennie Melville
The Edinburgh Mystery: And Other Tales of Scottish Crime
Latest in the series · book 3 of 3 · published 2023
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Gwendoline Butler?
Gwendoline Butler was a British author of romance and mystery fiction books since 1956. She was born on 19 August 1922 and died on 5 January 2013 aged 90-years. She spent her childhood years in south London, England with her parents Alice and Alfred Edward Williams.
Which Gwendoline Butler series should I start with?
The best place to start is the John Coffin Mystery series, the earliest of Gwendoline Butler's multi-book series: it opens with Receipt for Murder (1956) and runs to 33 books across 1956–2002, ending with Coffin Knows The Answer (2002). Gwendoline Butler's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has Gwendoline Butler written?
Gwendoline Butler has 80 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1956 and 2023. 58 of them belong to 4 named series — the largest being the John Coffin Mystery series with 33 books — and 22 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Gwendoline Butler's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Gwendoline Butler's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are John Coffin Mystery (1956–2002, 33 books), Charmian Daniels (1964–2015, 22 books) and Major Mearns and Sergeant Denny (1999–2006, 2 books), plus 1 more.
How are Gwendoline Butler's books organised into series?
This guide splits Gwendoline Butler's 80 books into 4 named series and 22 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: John Coffin Mystery (33 books, 1956–2002); Charmian Daniels (22 books, 1964–2015); Major Mearns and Sergeant Denny (2 books, 1999–2006); Jennie Melville Short Stories/Novellas (1 book, 2023).