written with "humor and authenticity." John Putnam Thatcher is senior vice president of the Sloan Guaranty Trust, the "third largest bank in the world" (at least until East is East), a "youthful sixty" 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. 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." Author and critic Anthony Boucher praised Lathen's “extraordinary ability to clarify the most intricate financial shenanigans so that even I can understand them”. The London Times described Lathen as “a sort of Jane Austen of the detective novel, crisp, detached, mocking, economical”. 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