How does Charles Latimer feel about capital punishment?

Charles Latimer doesn't much care for the practicalities of capital punishment. This strikes us as rather odd, given that as a mystery writer, detailed descriptions of death and bloodshed are his stock in trade. Mr. Peters gathers from reading one of Latimer's books that he has a moral objection to the death penalty, not just in practice but in theory. Peters chides him for this, implying that his attitude is at odds with how he pursues the murderer in his story:

Yet, shuddering with horror at your own barbarity, you proceeded to hunt this unfortunate murderer of yours with a kind of compassionate glee.

Peters's admonition acts as a stark reminder of the gap between life and art. Ironically, the line that separates them is frequently blurred in The Mask of Dimitrios. Latimer is a mystery writer in a mystery, solving a mystery. He inhabits several different identities at once, adding to the overall level(s) of mystery. Yet at some point, grim reality must intrude, and the gruesome details of death by hanging force Latimer to confront the moral duplicity of the writer in presenting, and almost luxuriating in, actions of which he personally disapproves.