author
J. A. (John Alexander) Ferguson
1871–1952
An Anglican priest turned crime novelist, he brought Scottish landscapes, ecclesiastical experience, and a keen sense of mystery to a distinguished run of detective fiction. His best-known books feature the recurring investigator Francis McNab.
1 Audiobook
The man in the dark
by J. A. (John Alexander) Ferguson
About the author
Born in 1871 in Callander, Perthshire, John Alexander Ferguson began his working life on the railways before being ordained in the Anglican Church. His ministry took him to Dundee, Guernsey, Glasgow, and Aberdeenshire; from 1915 he served as a college chaplain in Kent, and from 1939 at an institution in Culross, Fife.
Alongside his clerical career, Ferguson wrote plays and detective fiction. Beginning after the First World War, he published ten crime novels, including six featuring Francis McNab, whose investigations are narrated by his journalist friend Chance. His novels include The Dark Geraldine, The Man in the Dark, Murder on the Marsh, and Death Comes to Perigord.
Ferguson retired in 1946 and settled in Lymington, Hampshire, after the death of his wife that same year. He died there on December 3, 1952.