author

Moray Dalton

A quietly distinctive voice in British crime fiction, this early 20th-century novelist wrote atmospheric mysteries with sharp psychological insight. She is especially remembered for her detective novels featuring Inspector Hugh Collier, as well as for work published under her own name, Katherine Mary Dalton Renoir.

1 Audiobook

Olive in Italy

Olive in Italy

by Moray Dalton

About the author

Writing under the name Moray Dalton, Katherine Mary Dalton Renoir was an English author and poet associated with early 20th-century mystery fiction. Records available through Wikisource identify her as having lived from 1881 or 1882 to 1963, and show that she published both poetry and a long run of novels.

Her fiction included many standalone mysteries as well as a series featuring Inspector Hugh Collier. Titles such as The Kingsclere Mystery, One by One They Disappeared, The Belfry Murder, and Death in the Dark suggest the moody settings and suspenseful plots that helped define her work.

Although not as famous today as some of her contemporaries, Moray Dalton built a substantial body of crime writing across the 1920s, 1930s, and beyond. Her books remain of interest to readers who enjoy classic detective stories, strong atmosphere, and the rich variety of Golden Age-era British mysteries.