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Kathleen Moore Knight

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Kathleen Moore Knight
Kathleen Moore Knight, from a 1937 newspaper; a white woman with wavy dark hair, wearing eyeglasses
Kathleen Moore Knight, from a 1937 newspaper
BornMay 19, 1890
Brockton, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedJuly 30, 1984 (age 94)
Tisbury, Massachusetts, U.S.
Other namesAlan Amos (pseudonym)
OccupationWriter

Kathleen Moore Knight (May 19, 1890 – July 30, 1984) was an American writer of detective fiction in the 1940s and 1950s. Her novels are often set on Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard.

Early life and education

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Knight was from Brockton, Massachusetts,[1] the daughter of George Knight and Alberta Annie Amos Knight. Her mother died in 1893, and she was raised by her stepmother, Abbie Stevens Knight. Her father was born in Prince Edward Island, and invented manufacturing equipment. She graduated from Brockton High School in 1908,[2] and from Lasell Seminary in 1911.[3][4]

Career

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Knight was a YWCA executive secretary in Waco, Texas,[5] and a publicist in New York City as a young woman.[1][6] By the mid-1930s, she was a full-time[7] prolific writer of detective fiction, publishing more than thirty novels from 1935 to 1960.[8] "People always ask me how many books I have written and I never seem to be able to give them the latest correct figure," she told a reporter in 1946.[3] Her book Pray for a Miracle (1941) is also considered science fiction, as it deals with a hidden jungle civilization.[9] After World War II, one of her books, Port of Seven Strangers (1945), was distributed to American soldiers.[10] Her Elisha Macomber series has been compared to the Asey Mayo novels of Phoebe Atwood Taylor, as both detective series are usually set in Cape Cod or Martha's Vineyard.[11] The detective in her Margot Blair novels of the 1940s is a physically active, professional woman in her thirties.[12] She was a member of the Mystery Writers of America, and some of her novels were serialized in major newspapers, including The Boston Globe,[13][14] The Kansas City Star,[15] and The Philadelphia Inquirer.[16]

Publications

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Elisha Macomber series

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  • Death Blew Out the Match (1935)
  • The Clue of the Poor Man's Shilling (1936)[17]
  • The Wheel That Turned (1936)
  • Seven Were Veiled (1937)[18]
  • The Tainted Token (1938)
  • Acts of Black Night (1938)[19]
  • Death Came Dancing (1940)[20]
  • The Trouble at Turkey Hill (1946)
  • Footbridge to Death (1947)
  • Bait for Murder (1948)[13]
  • The Bass Derby Murder (1949)[21]
  • Valse Macabre (1952, also known as Death Goes to a Reunion)[22]
  • Akin to Murder (1953)
  • Three of Diamonds (1953)
  • Beauty is a Beast (1959)[23]

Margot Blair series

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  • Rendezvous with the Past (1940)
  • Exit a Star (1941)[24]
  • Terror by Twilight (1942)
  • Design in Diamonds (1944)

As Alan Amos

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  • Pray for a Miracle (1941)
  • Borderline Murder (1947)
  • Panic in Paradise (1951)
  • Fatal Harvest (1957)

Other works

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  • "Silver-Lined" (1912, poem)[25]
  • Fan Fare (1932, play, co-written with Julia H. Railey)[2]
  • Bell for the Dead (1942)
  • Trademark of a Traitor (1943)
  • Intrigue for Empire (1944, also sold as Murder for Empire)
  • Stream Sinister (1945)[26]
  • Port of Seven Strangers (1945)
  • The Blue Horse of Taxco (1947)
  • Birds of Ill Omen (1948)[16]
  • Dying Echo (1949)[27]
  • The Silent Partner (1950)[14]
  • High Rendezvous (1954)
  • The Robineau Look (1955, also sold as The Robineau Murders)[28]
  • They're Going to Kill Me (1956)
  • A Cry in the Jungle (1958)
  • Invitation to Vengeance (1960)
  • "Death Came Dancing"
  • "Moon Over the Andes"

Personal life

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Knight died in 1984, at the age of 94, in Tisbury, Massachusetts.[9][29]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Times New Serial Written by Kathleen Moore Knight". Tampa Bay Times. 1937-05-12. p. 7. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b "Kathleen M. Knight, Co-Author of Play". Lasell Leaves: 36. 1932 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ a b Kneeland, Paul F. (1946-06-21). "Kathleen Moore Knight Pictured Corpses All Over Martha's Vineyard--Then Wrote". The Boston Globe. p. 19. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Winslow, Donald J. (1987). Lasell : a history of the first junior college for women. Winslow Archives Lasell College. Lasell Junior College. p. 158.
  5. ^ "Work for 1920 by Waco Y.W.C.A. is Discussed". The Waco Times-Herald. 1920-01-25. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-07-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Talbott, George H. (1936-09-12). "No Longer Young: What Kathleen Moore Knight Did When the Bottom Fell Out of Her World". The Herald-News. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Finance, United States Congress Senate Committee on (1951). Revenue Act of 1951: Hearings Before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, Eighty-second Congress, First Session, on H.R. 4473, an Act to Provide Revenue, and for Other Purposes. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 1005.
  8. ^ Winslow, Donald J. (Summer–Fall 1982). "Lasell Women as Writers: A First Look". Lasell Bulletin: 2 – via Internet Archive.
  9. ^ a b "SFE: Knight, Kathleen Moore". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
  10. ^ Manning, Molly Guptill (2014). When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 227. ISBN 978-0-544-53502-2.
  11. ^ Haycraft, Howard (2019-02-13). Murder for Pleasure: The Life and Times of the Detective Story. Courier Dover Publications. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-486-83771-0.
  12. ^ Barnett, Colleen (2011-12-31). Mystery Women, Volume One (Revised): An Encyclopedia of Leading Women Characters in Mystery Fiction: 1860-1979. Sourcebooks, Inc. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-61595-008-9.
  13. ^ a b Knight, Kathleen Moore (1954-02-07). "Bait for Murder". The Boston Globe. p. 136. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ a b Knight, Kathleen Moore (1951-06-11). "The Silent Partner". The Boston Globe. p. 18. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Knight, Kathleen Moore (1938-01-26). "Seven Were Veiled". The Kansas City Star. p. 21. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ a b Knight, Kathleen Moore (1948-08-29). "Birds of Ill Omen". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 165. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Mystery Thriller". The Salem Post and The Democrat-Bulletin. 1937-05-20. p. 7. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "'Seven Were Veiled'". Times Herald. 1937-07-24. p. 27. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "The Upper Ten". Burlington Daily News. 1938-04-09. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Panamanian Carnival, Circus Boat Scene Macabre Doings". The Salt Lake Tribune. 1940-05-19. p. 48. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "The Reading Lamp". The South Bend Tribune. 1950-01-27. p. 10. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Absorbing Tale". The Montgomery Advertiser. 1952-07-13. p. 38. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ Combs, Shirley (1959-05-21). "Who-Dunnit?". Evansville Press. p. 45. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "Four New Books Are Written By Women About Woman". The Buffalo News. 1941-11-15. p. 23. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ Knight, Kathleen M. "Silver-Lined" Lasell Leaves (1912 yearbook): 103; via Internet Archive.
  26. ^ "Two Mystery Novels with Exciting Plots". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 1945-04-08. p. 13. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ "Among the New Books". Kensington and Chelsea News. 1952-10-03. p. 6. Retrieved 2024-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ Radcliffe, Elsa J. (1979). Gothic Novels of the Twentieth Century: An Annotated Bibliography. Scarecrow Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-8108-1190-4.
  29. ^ "Kathleen Knight, wrote mysteries, was associated with Amelia Earhart". The Boston Globe. 1984-08-02. p. 23. Retrieved 2024-07-18 – via Newspapers.com.
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