Emma Lathen Books in Order

In Thatcher's first case, a modest family trust leads to a missing heir, a snowbound search, and murder. It neatly introduces Sloan Guaranty and Thatcher's habit of solving crimes by understanding money first.

Asked to help with a bitter divorce settlement, Thatcher arrives in wealthy Connecticut just in time for a murder at the local inn. Money, jealousy, and social polish make a dangerous mix.

A famous accountant begins digging through the books of a troubled calculating-machine company and ends up dead at his own desk. Thatcher follows the audit trail into fraud, family ambition, and murder.

When a Wall Street firm brings in a Black millionaire partner, the reaction spills into protest, panic, and murder. Thatcher investigates while the novel takes on race, money, and institutional power.

Detroit's auto industry is the setting as Thatcher studies whether Sloan should back a major stock offering and walks into murder instead. Corporate rivalry and financial engineering keep the engine running.

A missing million dollars tied to a Soviet-American wheat deal sends Thatcher into a tangle of diplomacy, shipping, and murder. It is one of the funniest and sharpest books in the series, with high stakes hiding behind absurd details.

An insurance case leads Thatcher into a hospital where a supposed suicide does not survive a closer look. Medical scandal, unexplained deaths, and one chilling autopsy make this a sharp, unsettling entry.

A stolen bearer bond sends Thatcher to an Ivy League campus, where a missing alumnus, a cover-up, and murder are waiting. The case skewers old-school privilege while keeping the puzzle tight.

Ben Safford makes his debut in a Washington mystery where routine public business turns into a murder case. The first book sets up his calm, practical style and the series' sharp interest in politics.

Sloan's big investment in a fast-growing takeout chicken chain looks disastrous when customers are poisoned and one man dies. Thatcher has to untangle sabotage, franchising politics, and murder before the whole company collapses.

What begins as a business trip tied to a Greek development project turns into chaos when the military coup hits and Sloan people go missing. Thatcher's dry logic has to survive revolution, confusion, and murder.

Ben Safford is drawn into a politically charged case that reaches from Washington to trouble in South America. Personal loyalties and public pressure make this one less cozy than the title suggests.

A hiking vacation on the Appalachian Trail goes sideways when Thatcher and a friend stumble into a murder near an upscale vacation development. Real-estate hype, strained relationships, and hard selling turn the getaway into work.

A plan to replace a struggling Queens parochial school with a luxury high-rise sets parents, church officials, and developers against each other. Thatcher follows the real-estate money after the conflict turns lethal.

Sloan's clothing plant in Puerto Rico is hit by sabotage, political tension, and a murder that looks almost too convenient. Thatcher heads to San Juan to learn whether the trouble is labor unrest, radical theater, or something colder.

Ben Safford gets caught up in the battle around a Supreme Court appointment, where ideals, ambition, and backroom pressure are all in play. The title says one thing, but the mystery keeps testing it.

When Sloan sponsors hockey telecasts, Thatcher expects publicity, not two bodies and a city whipped into sports mania. A winning streak, ownership drama, and murder pull him onto very unfamiliar ice.

Ben Safford moves through the back rooms of Washington after a lobbyist's death points toward influence peddling and political corruption. It is a dry, knowing mystery about how favors are traded before anyone calls the police.

A booming candy bar sends the Dreyer Chocolate Company into turmoil after a commodities expert is murdered on the Cocoa Exchange floor. Thatcher has to sort out futures trading, family business drama, and one very bitter killing.

Thatcher steps into a bitter fight over a successful rug-importing family business when an unexpected claimant arrives and is poisoned. Old grudges, inheritance battles, and trade secrets drive the mystery.

A Washington commission becomes the center of suspicion when Ben Safford is drawn into a case shaped by bureaucracy, ambition, and murder. The fun comes from watching political process turn into detective work.

Oil money, energy politics, and corporate maneuvering give Thatcher plenty to untangle before the body count rises. This is Lathen in full business-mystery mode, turning a complicated industry into a crisp, clever puzzle.

At the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, Thatcher faces a nasty mix of fraud and murder after a skier is shot and Sloan loses money. Snow, spectacle, and business pressure make this one especially lively.

Ben Safford finds that medicine and politics make an uneasy pair when a physician close to power becomes part of a deadly Washington scandal. The case mixes policy rooms, personal loyalty, and sharp political observation.

Agribusiness and experimental crops turn ugly when Thatcher looks into a case where plant science, big money, and murder share the same field. The setup is classic Lathen, precise, funny, and quietly ruthless.

Development plans and Washington politics collide when Ben Safford is drawn into a case full of hidden interests and shifting alliances. The mystery shows how quickly a tidy public project can turn into something dirtier.

The airline business provides the backdrop as Thatcher investigates trouble that refuses to stay in the air. Corporate rivalry, travel headaches, and a well-placed death give this later mystery a brisk, modern edge.

A Tokyo business trip turns dangerous when Thatcher is pulled into a web of Japanese corporate politics, corruption, and murder. It is one of the series' more international outings, with Sloan far from its Wall Street comfort zone.

Thatcher is drawn into a later maze of finance, ambition, and corporate maneuvering, where the numbers look solid until a death exposes the real deal underneath. As ever, he solves the case by following motive and money.

A brewing dispute turns deadly as Thatcher steps into the beer business, where lobbying, lawsuits, and public pressure threaten far more than a product launch. Behind the trade fight, someone has murder in mind.

John Putnam Thatcher heads to Poland to protect Sloan's interests and finds canal chaos, corporate scheming, and murder waiting for him. This late Thatcher novel mixes post-Cold War business with a sharp, globe-trotting mystery.

Elizabeth Thatcher picks through power plays, tax politics, and Washington maneuvering when a senator's death opens a larger trail of money and influence. Like her father, she trusts motive over noise.

Elizabeth Thatcher follows the money through a volatile dot-com venture after the death of a tech leader rattles an online business empire. It brings Emma Lathen's cool financial style into the world of startup hype and internet greed.

A short nonfiction look at the mystery behind Emma Lathen's disappearance from the crime-fiction scene after 1997. It sketches the pen name's history, success, and legacy in a brisk, curious overview.