Edwin Lanham
Encyclopedia
Edwin Moultrie Lanham was born in Weatherford, Texas
on October 11, 1904, in the north central part of Texas where his family settled in the 1868. His family included his grandfather S. W. T. Lanham, the former Governor of Texas. His father Edwin Moultrie Lanham, Sr., died when Lanham was four, and his mother, Elizabeth Stephens Lanham, remarried soon after and joined her husband in New York City.
Lanham began writing in Paris, France in 1928, and his writing career spanned many decades, and more than twenty novels. Lanham married a model Irene Stillman in 1928 in Clinton, CT, and had one daughter Evelyn in 1935.
His only books to have received significant levels of literary praise were both written in the 1930s. "The Wind Blew West" is his most critically acclaimed work, and contains a fictional retelling of the Warren Wagon Train Raid
of 1871 and the subsequent trial of the Native American defendants. In 1940, Lanham received one of the Guggenheim Fellowships, which funded his novel "Thunder in the Earth". After World War 2, Lanham ceased writing literary fiction, and his entire writing career focused thereafter on mystery writing.
These detective stories, moreover, remain popular among genre fiction readers.
In addition, three of his detective stories were turned into Hollywood films entitled: The Senator Was Indiscreet
; If I’m Lucky 1946 ; and It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dog 1942.
Lanham died on July 24, 1979.
Weatherford, Texas
Weatherford is a city in Parker County, Texas, United States, and a western suburb of Fort Worth. The population was 19,000 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Parker County and is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.-Geography:...
on October 11, 1904, in the north central part of Texas where his family settled in the 1868. His family included his grandfather S. W. T. Lanham, the former Governor of Texas. His father Edwin Moultrie Lanham, Sr., died when Lanham was four, and his mother, Elizabeth Stephens Lanham, remarried soon after and joined her husband in New York City.
Lanham began writing in Paris, France in 1928, and his writing career spanned many decades, and more than twenty novels. Lanham married a model Irene Stillman in 1928 in Clinton, CT, and had one daughter Evelyn in 1935.
His only books to have received significant levels of literary praise were both written in the 1930s. "The Wind Blew West" is his most critically acclaimed work, and contains a fictional retelling of the Warren Wagon Train Raid
Warren Wagon Train Raid
The Warren Wagon Train Raid, also known as the Salt Creek Massacre, occurred on May 18, 1871. Henry Warren was contracted to haul supplies to forts in the west of Texas, including Fort Richardson, Fort Griffin, and Fort Concho. Traveling down the Jacksboro-Belknap road heading towards Salt Creek...
of 1871 and the subsequent trial of the Native American defendants. In 1940, Lanham received one of the Guggenheim Fellowships, which funded his novel "Thunder in the Earth". After World War 2, Lanham ceased writing literary fiction, and his entire writing career focused thereafter on mystery writing.
These detective stories, moreover, remain popular among genre fiction readers.
In addition, three of his detective stories were turned into Hollywood films entitled: The Senator Was Indiscreet
The Senator Was Indiscreet
The Senator Was Indiscreet is a 1947 comedy film starring William Powell as a dim-witted U.S. senator who decides to run for president, with Ella Raines as a reporter interested in the detailed diary he has kept about all the political misdeeds of his colleagues...
; If I’m Lucky 1946 ; and It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dog 1942.
Lanham died on July 24, 1979.