History Literature / JohnPutnamThatcher

* IRememberBecause: In ''Going for the Gold,'' Thatcher questions how an extremely busy salesgirl can remember a transaction involving a fake check five days after it happened.

A long running mystery series about an investment banker/amateur detective, written by Emma Lathen (a pseudonym for co-authors Mary Jane Latsis and Martha Hennisart).

--> '''Thatcher:'' [[spoiler:Ralph]] was not born to be a criminal. He was an accidental one if there ever was one.

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Averted for Thatcher himself. He is a hard worker, and expects the same of his subordinates. Played straight for bank president Bradford Withers, who appears to see his job as a collection of social contacts. On the rare occasion when Withers takes an active role, something goes wrong.

--> ''Rarely had a charitable impulse been more untimely. And, though Thatcher, it wasn't as if [[spoiler:Curtis Yeoman]] had so many.''

** In many books, John exposing the killer will further the Sloan's financial purposes and can be seen as EnlightenedSelfInterest. However, there are other books, such as ''[[spoiler:The Longer the Thread]]'' and ''[[spoiler:Murder Without Icing]]'' where exposing the killer will cause the Sloan financial ''difficulties'' and/or send someone John likes to prison for murder. In those cases, Thatcher could easily keep quiet and do nothing, but he still tells the police what he knows and ensures the killer won't escape justice.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: This plays a major role in the BackStory of ''[[spoiler:By Hook or by Crook]].'' [[spoiler:Shortly before UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Haig Parajian [[DeadPersonImpersonation assumed the identity of his recently deceased brother Paul]] to save their business from going under (everything was in Paul's name). The rest of their family was trapped in Europe by the war and then spent years living in extreme poverty in a refugee camp. He could have easily left them for dead. Doing so would have reduced the risk that they'd recognize him as their uncle and not their father. Abandoning them would have also ensured that if his deception failed, the children, as Paul's legal heirs, would never take away the millions of dollars Haig made running the business. Instead, Haig tracked them down in 1948 at no small expense and then spent the next 30 years raising them as a loving father. His youngest nephew Greg (who feels that [[BecomingTheMask Haig truly became Paul]]) returns the favor in the denouement of the novel, destroying evidence of Haig's true identity when he could have used it to sue Haig's wife and (actual) son for their share of the family fortune.]]

* INeedAFreakingDrink: In ''Green Grow the Dollars'', when Gloria Vandam hears that her husband and several of his relatives are murder suspects, she suggests that they have some brandy before bed and makes it clear that it isn't just for her husband.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: This plays a major role in the BackStory of ''[[spoiler:By Hook or by Crook]].'' [[spoiler:Shortly before UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Haig Parajian [[DeadPersonImpersonation assumed the identity of his recently deceased brother Paul]] to save their business from going under (everything was in Paul's name). The rest of their family was trapped in Europe by the war and then spent years living in extreme poverty in a refugee camp. He could have easily left them for dead. Doing so would have reduced the risk that they'd recognize him as their uncle and not their father. Abandoning them would have also ensured that if his deception, the children, as Paul's legal heirs, would never take away the millions of dollars Haig made from his deception. Instead, Haig tracked them down at no small expense and then spent the next 30 years raising them as a loving father. His youngest nephew Greg (who feels that [[BecomingTheMask Haig truly became Paul]]) returns the favor in the denouement of the novel, destroying evidence of Haig's true identity when he could have used it to sue Haig's wife and (actual) son for their share of the family fortune.]]