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Review
"The Viaduct Murder is British mystery at its most classic, most entertaining best. Knox knows how to weave a good yarn." THE MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW, June, 2002. ("Shelley's Bookshelf")
Born in Leicestershire, England, on February 17, 1888, to an Anglican family, Ronald (Arbuthnott) Knox was a fascinating person. Educated at Eton and Oxford, he was appointed chaplain of Trinity College, Oxford, in 1912 and converted to Catholicism in 1917. At the same time that he served as Roman Catholic chaplain of Oxford University (1926-1939) and as domestic prelate to the Pope (1936), he wrote classic detective stories.
According to his niece, Penelope Fitzgerald, a fine author in her own right, Msgr. Knox was probably the best known Roman Catholic Bishop of his day. He singlehandedly translated the St. Jerome Latin Vulgate Bible into English. His works on religious themes include: Some Loose Stones (1913), Reunion All Round (1914), The Spiritual Aeneid (1918), The Belief of Catholics (1927), Caliban in Grub Street (1930), Heaven and Charing Cross (1935), Let Dons Delight (1939), and Captive Flames (1940).
Msgr. Knoxs Roman Catholicism caused his father to cut him out of his will. This did not make much difference, however, as Knox earned a good income from his detective novels. His mystery stories include: The Viaduct Murder (1925), The Body in the Silo (1933), and Still Dead (1934).