Ronald Arbuthnott Knox (1888-1957) was a British cleric and author. He was the son of the Bishop of Manchester. His brother Evoe was editor of Punch magazine and his sister Winifred Francis Knox Peck wrote in a range of genres, including two mysteries which have been reprinted by Dean Street Press. See more about her writing here: https://martinedwardsbooks.com/articles/winifred-pecks-crime-novels/
Knox was educated at Eton and Oxford and worked in Military Intelligence during World War I. He was ordained into the Anglican church in 1911 and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1917. Knox lectured in Oxford University and served as Catholic chaplain there until 1939, when he retired to translate the Bible from the original Greek and Latin. The New Testament of the Knox Bible was published in 1945 and the Old Testament was published in 1949.
Knox was a founding member of the Detection Club in 1930. He developed a set of rules for mystery writers to use in their plots, which the Club adopted: http://www.classiccrimefiction.com/commandments.htm
Knox wrote six mystery novels and several short stories. Five of his mysteries feature Miles Bredon, investigator for the Indescribable Insurance Company, a behemoth firm known to be willing to insure almost anything.
The Footsteps at the Lock (Methuen, 1928) is Bredon’s second case. He comes into the story after young Derek Burtell disappears during a canoe ride down the upper reaches of the Thames with his cousin Nigel. Derek launched early into a profligate life while at Oxford, borrowing heavily against the prospect of inheriting £50,000 from his grandfather, about £2.7M today. His rackety lifestyle began to alarm his creditors, fearing he would not live to collect the money he was to receive on his 25th birthday. They insisted that Derek take out an insurance policy and put himself under a physician’s care. The doctor fervently recommended some sort of outdoor activity, away from Derek’s usual haunts, hence the canoe trip.
Nigel was just finishing his Oxford career and left Derek at the Shipcote Lock to return for his oral exams. No one saw Derek after that. His canoe was found with a hole in it and his hat was discovered floating downstream. Derek was assumed drowned but his body was not recovered. The Indescribable Insurance Company was loathe to pay on its policy before proof of death was in hand and set Miles Bredon to work. Bredon and his wife Angela relocated to a country inn near the lock, where they were joined in due course by Inspector Leyland of Scotland Yard.
The story showcases the meticulous analysis of detail for which the Golden Age mystery is known. Bredon painstakingly calculates how far the canoe might travel after incurring damage to determine where to search the river for Derek’s body. Railway time tables, multiple identities, and cyphers all play a part. Nigel, as the secondary beneficiary of their grandfather’s will and known not to be close with his cousin, comes under police scrutiny.
Knox was a beautifully literate writer but I found him a tad long-winded. Witty often but sometimes unnecessarily verbose. He more than compensated for it though in his descriptive sections. His text on the panorama along the banks of the Thames is striking. And the lock keeper’s carefully nurtured garden arising as it does in a wilderness presents a stunning word picture.
The resolution to Derek’s disappearance is logical although a little too neat. However, I am happy to make the acquaintance of Angela and Miles Bredon and plan to visit them again.
See Mike Grost’s assessment of Knox as a mystery writer here: http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7930890/Knox%2C%20Ronald. He recommends Knox’s short stories over his novels, and perhaps that is a good place for someone unfamiliar with Knox to begin.