Coffin in Malta

John Coffin Mystery #11

by Gwendoline Butler

Detective Inspector Coffin of Scotland Yard is sent to Malta to investigate the baffling murder of a laundress's retarded son

Genres: Procedural, Mystery

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Gwendoline Williams Butler (aka Jennie Melville)

Gwendoline Williams was born on 19th August 1922 in 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 sign 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.

Reviews

[Deb Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gwendoline Butler's multiple works are somewhat obscure, but not for lack of quality. Her character-driven plots reveal an understanding of various aspects of human nature along with her ability to use that understanding to drive her characters' actions and words.

The Inspector John Coffin series has a vast number of titles, although I've only been able to access some of them through the public library network here.

[Leon · Rating 4 out of 5]

the book is a bit strange. The mother who killed her own child, decapitated him, than she indirectly took part in killing her daughter and no remorse. But I didn't suspected her. The book is written well, though maybe a little outdated.

[Gloria Mccracken · Rating 3 out of 5]

An early Coffin. More of a psychological thriller than a murder mystery, although of course, there is a murder.

[Eugene · Rating 1 out of 5]

Given all the great things I’ve read about Gwendoline Butler and DI Coffin, I wish I liked this book, but I did not. Earlier this year I finally read one of these, Coffin on The Water, and while quirky I did enjoy it a good bit; based on that I picked up 8 or 9 at used bookshops figuring to get into the series. Alas, the second I read was poor (Death Lives Next Door) and this effort is worse. Not even the setting in Malta was of any interest, certainly the oddball inhabitants weren’t! Now thinking I bought a half dozen too many as I not at all sure that I’ll read another - there are many more better choices out there to bother with these…