Edward Mathis
Edward Mathis was an American author and former naval pharmacist's mate, born on February 12, 1927, in Evansville, Indiana. He served in the Navy during the latter part of World War II before beginning a career in business, including a significant position as a buyer for Bell Helicopter. Although Mathis had a passion for writing and produced numerous manuscripts throughout his life, he initially did not pursue publication due to a preference for family support over the publishing process. In the late 1970s, he became more dedicated to his writing, eventually winning recognition for his manuscript "September Song."
His first published work, "From a High Place," introduced the character Dan Roman, a private investigator with a rich backstory shaped by personal tragedies. Mathis published five novels in the Dan Roman series, known for their engaging narratives and well-developed characters. Though he passed away in 1988, his legacy continued through posthumous publications, including additional entries in the Dan Roman series and two standalone novels. Mathis's work is characterized by a blend of mystery and personal reflection, appealing to readers interested in complex characters and gripping plots.
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Edward Mathis
Writer
- Born: February 12, 1927
- Birthplace: Evansville, Indiana
- Died: 1988
Biography
Edward Mathis was born on February 12, 1927, in Evansville, Indiana, the son of Hardie H. Mathis and Mary Hill Mathis. He joined the navy at the age of seventeen and served as a pharmacist’s mate during the latter stages of World War II. Following his discharge in 1946, Mathis married Bonnie Goodman, with whom he had a daughter, Janet.
From 1946 to 1949, Mathis attended Bramwell Business College. He was a buyer for Douglas Aircraft in El Segundo, California, from 1951 until 1960, and in his spare time began writing, simply for the love of developing plots and characters. Though he produced more than a dozen novel-length manuscripts, he did not publish them because he disliked editing, rewriting, and submitting work to publishers and he was more concerned with supporting his family than with publishing his books. After earning a graduate engineering degree from Western State College in 1962, Mathis resumed his career as a buyer, this time working for Bell Helicopter in Fort Worth, Texas, where he remained from 1963 to 1976.
In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Mathis, who was living in the Dallas suburb of Euless, rededicated himself to writing. He joined the Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America and become a member of the Dallas-Fort Worth Pro-Am Writers Workshop. The commitment paid off when his manuscript, September Song, won first place in the mystery-suspense category in the 1983 Oklahoma Writer’s Federation annual contest.
Encouraged by his success, Mathis redoubled his efforts and published his first novel, From a High Place, in 1985. The novel introduced hard-boiled Dan Roman, a former Vietnam War helicopter pilot and police lieutenant, who is now a middle-aged private investigator who drives a pickup truck, drinks beer, wears cowboy boots, and works out of his home in fictional Midway City, near Dallas. Roman is portrayed as a capable, introspective man whose life has been touched by tragedy; his father froze to death while drunk, his first wife died of cancer, and his only child was killed in a car crash.
In the second book of the series, Dark Streaks and Empty Places, Roman has married a much younger woman, an ambitious investigative reporter for a television station with aspirations of becoming a news anchor. In subsequent entries, the brooding, two-fisted detective demonstrates bulldog-like persistence in following leads in a variety of cases that take place in Texas and other parts of North America. After publishing five Dan Roman adventures, Mathis’s series began to be recognized and received favorable reviews, although some critics, while praising his straightforward narrative and well-drawn characters, complained about his overuse of adverbs. Then Mathis suddenly died in 1988, and it appeared that the series had come to a premature end.
However, Mathis’s widow, Bonnie, continued to submit his completed manuscripts. Since his death, four additional Dan Roman novels have appeared, The Burned Woman, Out of the Shadows, September Song, and The Fifth Level. Two stand-alone novels, Only When She Cries and See No Evil, also were published posthumously.