Virginia Coffman

Virginia Edith Coffman was born in San Francisco, the daughter of William E. Coffman and Edythe Duval Coffman.^[1] She grew up in Long Beach, California.^[1][2][3][4] She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1938.^[2][5] 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.^[6]

Coffman was an actress as a young woman,^[1] and worked in Hollywood as a secretary and a script editor,^[7] for David O. Selznick, Monogram Pictures, Hal Roach,^[5] and Howard Hughes.^[1] She wrote screenplays for television and film.^[8] 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.^[3][4][6] Coffman was active in the Reno chapter of American PenWomen,^[9] and was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame in 1990.^[1]

Coffman published at least 109 books,^[1][10] most of them gothic romance novels with historical settings.^[7][11] Her first novel was Moura (1959), 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.^[5] She published under at least four pseudonyms, including Jeanne Duval, Kay Cameron, and Ann Stanfield.^[2][7] Roberts argues that Coffman's fiction combines elements of Gothic fiction, detective fiction, and historical romance.^[2]

• Moura (1959)^[6]
• Affair at Alkali (1960)
• Curse of the Island Pool (1965)^[12]
• Black Heather (1966)^[13]
• A Few Fiends to Tea (1967, 1990)^[14]
• The Mist at Darkness (1968)^[15]
• The Vicar of Moura
• The Vampyre of Moura
• The High Terrace
• Black Heather
• Night at Sea Abbey
• Of Love and Intrigue
• The Chinese Door
• The Lombard Heiress
• The Lombard Cavalcade
• Passion's Rebel (as Kay Cameron)
• The Lady Serena (1978, as Jeanne Duval)^[5][16]
• The Orchid Tree
• Veronique
• The Tangerine Pool
• Devil Vicar
• The Demon Tower
• The Beckoning
• Marsanne
• The Jeweled Darkness
• Mistress Devon
• Castle Barra
• Call of the Flesh
• The Guru and the Sex Goddess
• The Dark Palazzo (1981)^[17]
• Dark Desire (1990)^[18]

Coffman lived with her sister Donnie Coffman Micciche, a singer, actress, writer, and artist, in their later years.^[1][10] Coffman died in Reno on March 31, 2005.^[8]