{"birth_date": "1871", "death_date": "3 December 1952", "personal_name": "Ferguson, John Alexander", "bio": "John Alexander Ferguson (1871-1952) was a Scottish clergyman, playwright, and mystery writer. He was born In 1871 at Callander, Perthshire, Scotland, and died 3 December 1952  in Lymington, Hants.\r\nFerguson was employed as a railway clerk at Callander before ordination.\r\nHe wrote ten detective and thriller novels between 1918 and 1942, with half of them starring his newspaper reporter, amateur criminologist and police consultant, Francis MacNab \u2013 debuting in *The Man in the Dark* (1928) and bowing out in *Death of Mr. Dodsley* (1937).\r\nHis ministry took him to Dundee, Guernsey, Glasgow, Drumtotchy; then as chaplain at Eversley School, Kent, 1915-38, then at Culross, 1939-46. He retired in 1946. \r\n\r\nBibliography\r\n*Stealthy Terror* (1918)\r\n*The Dark Geraldine* (1921)\r\n*The Secret Road* (1925)\r\n*The Man in the Dark* (1928)\r\n*Murder on the Marsh* (1930)\r\n*Death Comes To Perigord* (1931)\r\n*Night in Glengyle* (1933)\r\n*The Grouse Moor Mystery* (1934)\r\n*Death of Mr Dodsley* (1937)\r\n*Terror on the Island* (1942)\r\n\r\n - From *Scottish Episcopal Clergy, 1689-2000*, by David M. Bertie, via http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7930568/Ferguson%2C%20John", "name": "John Alexander Ferguson", "remote_ids": {"isni": "0000000374452395", "wikidata": "Q16028104", "viaf": "18573486"}, "key": "/authors/OL1458558A", "type": {"key": "/type/author"}, "links": [{"title": "WorldCat identity", "url": "https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n82125260/", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"title": "Golden Age of Detection Wiki entry", "url": "http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7930568/Ferguson%2C%20John", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"title": "Library of Congress Authority ID", "url": "https://id.loc.gov/authorities/n82125260", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"title": "Moonlight Detective blog entry", "url": "https://moonlight-detective.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-grouse-moor-murder-1934-by-john.html", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}], "alternate_names": ["John alexander Ferguson", "John Ferguson"], "latest_revision": 5, "revision": 5, "created": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2008-04-01T03:28:50.625462"}, "last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2026-01-11T15:33:59.337676"}}