Virginia Coffman
Virginia Edith Coffman was an American writer. She published over 100 gothic romance novels in her career.
Early life and education
Virginia Edith Coffman was born in San Francisco, the daughter of William E. Coffman and Edythe Duval Coffman. She grew up in Long Beach, California. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1938. But she cited another important early influence on her work: "The greatest influence on my writing is due to the public libraries," she explained in 1959.Career
Coffman was an actress as a young woman, and worked in Hollywood as a secretary and a script editor, for David O. Selznick, Monogram Pictures, Hal Roach, and Howard Hughes. She wrote screenplays for television and film. Following her work in the film industry, she moved to Reno, Nevada, where she wrote and worked as a secretary in a bank and in a realtor's office. Coffman was active in the Reno chapter of American PenWomen, and was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame in 1990.Coffman published at least 109 books, most of them gothic romance novels with historical settings. Her first novel was Moura, which became the first of a five-book series. Her books include "generous helpings of steamy sex", to satisfy publishers' and readers' demands. "There's a lot of horror in my books, and more sex than there used to be," she told an interviewer in 1981. She published under at least four pseudonyms, including Jeanne Duval, Kay Cameron, and Ann Stanfield. Roberts argues that Coffman's fiction combines elements of Gothic fiction, detective fiction, and historical romance.
Books
Moura Affair at Alkali Curse of the Island Pool Black Heather A Few Fiends to Tea The Mist at Darkness The Vicar of MouraThe Vampyre of MouraThe High TerraceBlack HeatherNight at Sea AbbeyOf Love and IntrigueThe Chinese DoorThe Lombard HeiressThe Lombard CavalcadePassion's Rebel The Lady Serena The Orchid TreeVeroniqueThe Tangerine PoolDevil VicarThe Demon TowerThe BeckoningMarsanneThe Jeweled DarknessMistress DevonCastle BarraCall of the FleshThe Guru and the Sex GoddessThe Dark Palazzo- ''Dark Desire''