Jonathan Latimer(1906-1983)
- Writer
American writer of thrillers and film scripts, the son of a Chicago
lawyer and a violinist. He was named 'Jonathan' after a famous ancestor
who had served as a colonel on George Washington's staff during the
American Revolutionary War. Latimer was a graduate of Knox College in
Galesburg, Illinois. Following travels in Europe, he began his writing
career as a journalist for the Chicago Herald Examiner and the Chicago
Tribune (1929-34), reporting on the activities of organized crime
figures in his home town. That included meeting the likes of
Al Capone and
George Moran (aka 'Bugs') on
their own turf!
From 1935, Latimer penned a series of hard-boiled crime novels published by 'The Crime Club' and usually featuring the dissolute private eye Bill Crane. These books were somewhat in the vein of Dashiell Hammett (by whom he was heavily influenced) and Raymond Chandler (whom he later befriended), with a suitably cynical but at times bawdily humorous, or self-mocking edge. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym 'Peter Coffin' ("The Search for My Great Uncle's Head" (1937)). Latimer worked in Hollywood from the late 1930s, where he was at his best providing gritty dialogue for the film noir genre, notably Hammett's The Glass Key (1942), They Won't Believe Me (1947) and The Big Clock (1948).
From 1935, Latimer penned a series of hard-boiled crime novels published by 'The Crime Club' and usually featuring the dissolute private eye Bill Crane. These books were somewhat in the vein of Dashiell Hammett (by whom he was heavily influenced) and Raymond Chandler (whom he later befriended), with a suitably cynical but at times bawdily humorous, or self-mocking edge. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym 'Peter Coffin' ("The Search for My Great Uncle's Head" (1937)). Latimer worked in Hollywood from the late 1930s, where he was at his best providing gritty dialogue for the film noir genre, notably Hammett's The Glass Key (1942), They Won't Believe Me (1947) and The Big Clock (1948).
