Delano Ames
Delano L. Ames was an American author born on May 29, 1906, in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, known for his contributions to the crime fiction genre. He came from a notable lineage, with connections to historical figures such as Richard Warren from the Mayflower and Columbus Delano, a former U.S. Secretary of the Interior. Ames's literary career began with his first novel, *They Journey by Night*, published in 1932, followed by *No Traveler Returns* in 1934. He gained prominence with his series featuring amateur detectives Jane and Dagobert Brown, starting with *The Cornish Coast Conspiracy* in 1942, while also serving as an army major during World War II. In addition to crime novels, he translated scholarly works and wrote screenplays. Later in his career, Ames introduced a new detective character, Juan Llorca, in the 1960s. He lived in various locations, including England, Spain, and New Mexico, and continued to write until his death in Madrid in January 1987, leaving behind a legacy of approximately two dozen novels and numerous translated works.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Delano Ames
- Born: May 29, 1906
- Birthplace: Mt. Vernon, Ohio
- Died: January 1, 1987
- Place of death: Madrid, Spain
Biography
Delano L. Ames was born May 29, 1906, in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. He was a descendant of an early and distinguished American family: his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth DeLano, was related to Richard Warren, one of the passengers on the Mayflower, and his great-grandfather, Columbus Delano (1809-1896), served as secretary of the interior under President Ulysses Grant from 1870 to 1875. Personal information about Delano Ames is difficult to obtain, but he appears to have attended Yale University during the 1920’s. Ames married twice first to novelist Maysie Grieg and later to Kit Woodward.
Ames’s first published work was the crime novel They Journey by Night (also known as Not in Utter Nakedness), which appeared in 1932. He published a second novel, No Traveler Returns, in 1934, and penned several plays that were produced in London’s West End during the 1930’s. His first series novel The Cornish Coast Conspiracy, featuring amateur sleuths Jane and Dagobert Brown, an English couple living in the south of France was released in 1942, the same year that Ames, an army major, participated in the World War IIinvasion of North Africa. He also took part in the Salerno landing in 1943.
After the war, Ames, who maintained a wide range of interests, translated Ernest Closson’s scholarly History of the Piano from French into English. He continued the lighthearted Dagobert and Jane series, producing a dozen volumes in all. The last was Lucky Jane (also known as For Old Crime’s Sake) in 1959, though the best known of the series is She Shall Have Murder, published in 1948. During the same time period, he wrote several non-series crime novels, including A Night in Casablanca (1946) and No Mourning for the Matador (1953). He also served as translator for a book on Egyptian mythology and the New Larousse Encyclopedia (1959, with Richard Aldington).
In 1960, Delano Ames ceased writing Dagobert and Jane series books so that he could introduce a new series character, Juan Llorca, a Spanish detective with the Civil Guard. The Man in the Tricorn Hat (1960) began the somewhat hardboiled series, which ended three books later with The Man with Three Passports (1967), his last published work of fiction. Ames, who traveled extensively during his lifetime, lived for a time in Somerset, England and in New Mexico. During the latter part of his career, he divided time between Paris, London (his permanent residence), a village near Vienna (his summer home), and the peaceful fishing village of Alicante, Spain (his winter home). He died at age eighty in Madrid, Spain, in January, 1987, having produced some two-dozen crime novels, a few plays, several screenplay novelizations, and many books in translation.