What do you think?
Rate this book
Banking on Murder: Three by Emma Lathen : Death Shall Overcome / Murder Against the Grain / A Stitch in Time
John Putnam Thatcher, a troubleshooter for Sloan Guaranty Trust proves a suicide is really murder, faces a scandal in the grain futures market, and investigates bigotry and murder on the New York Stock Exchange
- GenresMystery
569 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1984
12 people want to read
About the author
Emma Lathen
41 books22 followersAka R.B. Dominic
Emma Lathen is the pen name of two American businesswomen: an attorney Mary Jane Latsis (July 12, 1927 -October 29, 1997) and an economic analyst Martha Henissart (b. 1929),who received her B.A. in physics from Mount Holyoke College in 1950.
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/31/boo...
Emma Lathen is the pen name of two American businesswomen: an attorney Mary Jane Latsis (July 12, 1927 -October 29, 1997) and an economic analyst Martha Henissart (b. 1929),who received her B.A. in physics from Mount Holyoke College in 1950.
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/31/boo...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 8, 2008
Review for Death Shall Overcome:
The Sloan enters the Civil Rights fray in this entry into an entertaining series. The brokerage house of Schuyler and Schuyler announce a new partner with a seat on the stock exchange - black millionaire Edward Parry. One of my very favorites in this series. The sit-in is really great. Lots of fun.
Review for Stitch in Time:
An older book, but still extremely topical. A friend of Thatcher's is appearing in court on the Freebody vs. Atlantic Mutual case. Freebody was a rich old man who was diagnosed with cancer. After some thought, he decided to take the easier way out and attempted suicide. But he was found and brought to the hospital, where he died a few days later. The insurance company (Atlantic Mutual) is stalling on paying his life insurance, ruling his death a suicide. But it's not that simple. The hospital bungled treatment rather badly, and now they're trying a coverup. The more Thatcher looks into the case, the worse it gets. And it ends in murder.
Review for Murder Against the Grain:
John Putnam Thatcher is in the middle of an important meeting when his secretary calls. He is shocked. His almost inhumanly perfect secretary, Miss Corsa, knows better than to interrupt such a meeting for anything less than a true crisis. So he is not surprised to hear bad news when he gets back to his desk. But he isn't happy to hear just how bad it is - the Sloan Guarantee Trust, third largest bank in the world, has just been robbed of $985,000. (That's roughly $3.7 million today - I looked it up)
It seems that the Sloan was acting as a middle man in the negotiation of a large sale of grain to the Russian government. But for the first shipment of grain, all the paperwork was forged. The Sloan handed over a check all right, but not to the right agency. Now Thatcher is determined to get that money back. But as he digs into the fraud, a key witness ends up murdered. Soon all sorts of government agencies, from the FBI to the US Navy to the KGB are involved, not to mention the Russian otters.
This was one of the funnier books in the series. As I reread this one, I found myself laughing out loud. The political situation may have changed, but human nature hasn't and there are still plenty of bureaucracies around, so I could identify with what was going on. Lots of fun.
CMB
The Sloan enters the Civil Rights fray in this entry into an entertaining series. The brokerage house of Schuyler and Schuyler announce a new partner with a seat on the stock exchange - black millionaire Edward Parry. One of my very favorites in this series. The sit-in is really great. Lots of fun.
Review for Stitch in Time:
An older book, but still extremely topical. A friend of Thatcher's is appearing in court on the Freebody vs. Atlantic Mutual case. Freebody was a rich old man who was diagnosed with cancer. After some thought, he decided to take the easier way out and attempted suicide. But he was found and brought to the hospital, where he died a few days later. The insurance company (Atlantic Mutual) is stalling on paying his life insurance, ruling his death a suicide. But it's not that simple. The hospital bungled treatment rather badly, and now they're trying a coverup. The more Thatcher looks into the case, the worse it gets. And it ends in murder.
Review for Murder Against the Grain:
John Putnam Thatcher is in the middle of an important meeting when his secretary calls. He is shocked. His almost inhumanly perfect secretary, Miss Corsa, knows better than to interrupt such a meeting for anything less than a true crisis. So he is not surprised to hear bad news when he gets back to his desk. But he isn't happy to hear just how bad it is - the Sloan Guarantee Trust, third largest bank in the world, has just been robbed of $985,000. (That's roughly $3.7 million today - I looked it up)
It seems that the Sloan was acting as a middle man in the negotiation of a large sale of grain to the Russian government. But for the first shipment of grain, all the paperwork was forged. The Sloan handed over a check all right, but not to the right agency. Now Thatcher is determined to get that money back. But as he digs into the fraud, a key witness ends up murdered. Soon all sorts of government agencies, from the FBI to the US Navy to the KGB are involved, not to mention the Russian otters.
This was one of the funnier books in the series. As I reread this one, I found myself laughing out loud. The political situation may have changed, but human nature hasn't and there are still plenty of bureaucracies around, so I could identify with what was going on. Lots of fun.
CMB
June 19, 2015
From the days before bankers lost their prudence; full of dry humor and financial shenanigans exposed by the brilliant but unassuming banker-detective John Putnam Thatcher.
March 6, 2018
Emma Lathen is one of my favorite authors, even though I know it is 2 different people! John Thatcher Putnam is one of my faves, too. Only one problem...not enough dead bodies!! Still, it was a wonderful beginning to a long list of books. (I read all of her books when I was younger, time to reread them!) Try it... you will like it!!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews