  Gwendoline Butler was born in London and educated at Haberdashers before reading history at Oxford. She married the late Dr Lionel Butler, Principal of Royal Holloway College. She has one daughter. Most of her books feature John Coffin, Divisional Detective Inspector for a South London District. She also wrote crime novels under the pseudonym 'Jennie Melville' featuring 'Charmian Daniels' of Deerham Hill CID. |
Titles and year of publication:
| 'John Coffin' Novels | |
| 1) The Interloper | 1959 |
| 2) Death Lives Next Door (Also published as: Dine and Be Dead [1960]) | 1960 |
| 3) Make Me a Murderer | 1961 |
| 4) Coffin in Oxford | 1962 |
| 5) Coffin for Baby | 1963 |
| 6) Coffin Waiting | 1964 |
| 7) Coffin in Malta | 1964 |
| 8) A Nameless Coffin | 1966 |
| 9) Coffin Following | 1968 |
| 10) Coffin's Dark Number | 1969 |
| 11) A Coffin from the Past | 1970 |
| 12) A Coffin for the Canary (Also published as: Olivia [1974]) | 1974 |
| 13) Coffin on the Water | 1986 |
| 14) Coffin in Fashion | 1987 |
| 15) Coffin Underground | 1988 |
| 16) Coffin in the Black Museum (Also published as: Coffin in the Museum of Crime [1990]) | 1989 |
| 17) Coffin and the Paper Man | 1990 |
| 18) Coffin on Murder Street | 1991 |
| 19) Cracking Open a Coffin | 1992 |
| 20) A Coffin for Charley | 1993 |
| 21) The Coffin Tree | 1994 |
| 22) A Dark Coffin | 1995 |
| 23) A Double Coffin | 1996 |
| 24) Coffin's Game | 1997 |
| 25) A Grave Coffin | 1998 |
| 26) Coffin's Ghost | 1999 |
| 27) A Coffin for Christmas | 2000 |
| 28) A Cold Coffin | 2000 |
| 29) Coffin Knows the Answer | 2002 |
| Other Novels | |
| 1) Receipt for Murder | 1956 |
| 2) Dead in a Row | 1957 |
| 3) The Dull Dead | 1958 |
| 4) The Murdering Kind | 1958 |
| 5) A Coffin for Pandora (Also published as: Sarsen Place [1974]) (Silver Dagger Award) | 1973 |
| 6) The Vesey Inheritance | 1975 |
| 7) The Brides of Friedberg (Also published as: Meadowsweet [1977]) | 1977 |
| 8) The King Cried Murder | 1999 |
| 9) Dread Murder | 2006 |
| As 'Jennie Melville' | |
| 'Charmian Daniels' Novels | |
| 1) Come Home and Be Killed | 1962 |
| 2) Burning Is a Substitute for Loving | 1963 |
| 3) Murderer's Houses | 1964 |
| 4) There Lies Your Love | 1965 |
| 5) A Different Kind of Summer | 1967 |
| 6) A New Kind of Killer, An Old Kind of Death (Also published as: A New Kind of Killer [1971]) | 1970 |
| 7) Murder Has a Pretty Face | 1981 |
| 8) Windsor Red | 1988 |
| 9) A Cure for Dying (Also published as: Making Good Blood [1989]) | 1989 |
| 10) Witching Murder | 1990 |
| 11) Footsteps in the Blood | 1990 |
| 12) Dead Set | 1992 |
| 13) Whoever Has the Heart | 1993 |
| 14) A Death in the Family | 1994 |
| 15) The Morbid Kitchen | 1995 |
| 16) The Woman Who Was Not There | 1996 |
| 17) Revengeful Death | 1997 |
| 18) Stone Dead | 1998 |
| 19) Dead Again | 2000 |
| Other Novels | |
| 1) The Hunter in the Shadows | 1969 |
| 2) The Summer Assassin | 1971 |
| 3) Listen to the Children | 1986 |
| 4) Death in the Garden (Also published as: Murder in the Garden [1990]) | 1987 |
| 5) Baby Drop | 1994 |
 |
 |