- C. W. Grafton
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Cornelius Warren ("Chip") Grafton (1909 – 1982) was an American crime novelist. He was born and raised in China, where his parents were working as missionaries. He was educated in Clinton, South Carolina, studying law and journalism, and became a municipal bond attorney in Louisville, Kentucky.[1]
The hero of his first two mystery novels (The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope and The Rope Began to Hang the Butcher) was a lawyer named Gilmore Henry. Using the first two lines of a nursery rhyme as the titles of his first two novels suggested that other Gilmore Henry novels would follow, but none did. (A partial manuscript of a third novel, The Butcher Began to Kill the Ox, is known to exist.)[1] Henry did not appear in Grafton's two subsequent novels.
Contents
Honors and awards
The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope won the 1943 Mary Roberts Reinhart Award.[2]
Personal life
In World War II, Grafton served with distinction as a military deception officer in the India-Burma theater. [3] Grafton was married to Vivian Harnsberger, and they had two daughters, Sue and Ann. Sue Grafton (b. 1940) is also a writer and is famous for her "Alphabet Series" of crime novels. C. W. Grafton died four months before the publication of "A" Is for Alibi.
C.W. Grafton's law partner, Spencer Harper Jr., named his younger son Grafton Sharpe Harper after him.
Bibliography
- The Rat Began To Gnaw The Rope (1943)
- The Rope Began To Hang The Butcher (1944)
- My Name Is Christopher Nagel (1947)
- Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (1950)
References
- ^ a b McDonnell, Brandy (2007-04-15). "Sue Grafton sees mystery behind ABCs". Daily Oklahoman. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-30314301_ITM.
- ^ Dodd, Jeff; Brian Heckel (Spring 2002). "Women of Mystery; How two U of L alumnae became top 'whodunits'". UofL: The Magazine of the University of Louisville. http://louisville.edu/ur/ucomm/mags/spring2002/mystery.html.
- ^ Thaddeus Holt, The Deceivers, pp. 427-29, 679-80.
Works by Sue Grafton Alphabet novels "A" Is for Alibi • "B" Is for Burglar • "C" Is for Corpse • "D" Is for Deadbeat • "E" Is for Evidence • "F" Is for Fugitive • "G" Is for Gumshoe • "H" Is for Homicide • "I" Is for Innocent • "J" Is for Judgment • "K" Is for Killer • "L" Is for Lawless • "M" Is for Malice • "N" Is for Noose • "O" Is for Outlaw • "P" Is for Peril • "Q" Is for Quarry • "R" Is for Ricochet • "S" Is for Silence • "T" Is for Trespass • "U" Is for Undertow • "V" Is for VengeanceOther novels Keziah Dane • The Lolly-Madonna WarRelated articles C. W. Grafton • Kinsey Millhone • Santa Teresa, California • Kinsey and MeFilms adapted from novels Lolly-Madonna XXXCategories:- American mystery writers
- American crime fiction writers
- American novelists
- Writers from Kentucky
- People from Louisville, Kentucky
- 1909 births
- 1982 deaths
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