Ernest M. Poate

Born in Yokohama in 1884 to American parents, Ernest M. Poate led an unusually varied life. Sources identify him as Ernest Marsh Poate and describe him as a physician, attorney, psychiatrist, and writer; he later became associated with Duke University as a professor and department chair in neuropsychiatry.

Alongside his medical career, he wrote detective fiction and short stories, sometimes publishing under the pseudonym Arthur Mallory. His known books include The Trouble at Pinelands, and reference sources also connect him with recurring detectives such as Dr. Bentiron and Dr. Kirke Montgomery.

Poate died in Southern Pines, North Carolina, in 1935. What makes him memorable now is that combination of professional seriousness and literary play: he wrote mysteries with the eye of someone who understood both human behavior and the pleasures of a well-built case.