William Knox (1928 – March 1999) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and broadcaster, best known for his crime novels and for presenting the long-running STV series ''Crimedesk''.

Life and career

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Knox became the youngest journalist for a Glasgow newspaper at age 16. He went on to report on crime, on motoring, and to become a news editor. He began writing crime novels in the 1950s. Knox often wrote under

pseudonyms A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's ow ...

, frequently for the American market. These included Michael Kirk, Robert MacLeod and Noah Webster. He published over 50 crime novels, including several series, notably the "Thane and Moss" books. In the 1970s, he was approached by

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

to present a series asking for public assistance in solving crimes in the central

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

area. Knox presented the fifteen-minute slot for over ten years, always signing off with the promise that any calls to the police "can be in confidence". At this time he also made a series of short programmes called ''Tales of Crime'', also for STV, in which he recounted famous Scottish criminal cases. His crime novels from the 1960s onwards, and in the 1970s his ''Crimedesk'' television series, publicised the Glasgow slang term "neds", referring to

petty criminal A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admi ...

s or small-time hoodlums.
A 1982 analysis of crime fiction discussing Knox's 1977 novel ''Pilot Error'' noted his description of

Strathclyde Police Strathclyde Police was the territorial police force responsible for the Scottish council areas of Argyll and Bute, Glasgow City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, ...

as being unconcerned about "neds" getting hurt in a fight as long as no one else was affected. His final novel, ''The Lazarus Widow'', was unfinished at the time of his death, and was completed by

Martin Edwards Charles Martin Edwards (born 24 July 1945) is the former chairman of Manchester United F.C., Manchester United, a position he held from 1980 until 2002. He now holds the position of honorary life president at the club and Director of Inview Tech ...

. The novels went out of publication following Knox's death in 1999. In 2024, Zertex Media, a publishing company owned by crime writer Barry Hutchison (who uses the pen name JD Kirk), began republishing the books, starting with ''Deadline for a Dream'' in January 2024.

Bibliography

*''Deadline For A Dream'' (US: ''In At The Kill'') (1957) *''The Cockatoo Crime'' (1958) *''Death Department'' (1959) *''Leave It To The Hangman'' (1960) *''Death Calls The Shots'' (1961) *''Die For Big Betsy'' (1961) *''Little Drops Of Blood'' (1962) *''Sanctuary Isle'' (US: ''The Grey Sentinels'') (1962) *''The Man In The Bottle'' (US: ''The Killing Game'') (1963) *''The Scavengers'' (1964) *''The Taste of Proof'' (1965) *''The Deep Fall'' (US: ''The Ghost Car'') (1966) *''Devilweed'' (1966) *''Justice On the Rocks'' (1967) *''Blacklight'' (1967) *''The Klondyker'' (US: ''The Figurehead'') (1968) *''Court of murder: Famous trials at Glasgow High Court'' (1968) *''Blueback'' (1969) *''Children of the Mist'' (US: ''Who Shot the Bull?'') (1970) *''Seafire'' (1970) *''To Kill a Witch'' (1971) *''Stormtide'' (1972) *''Draw Batons'' (1973) *''Whitewater'' (1974) *''View from Daniel Pike'' (1974) *''Children of the Water'' (1974) *''Rally to Kill'' (1975) *''Hellspout'' (1976) *''A Witchdance in Bavaria'' (1976) *''A Pay-off in Switzerland'' (1977) *''Witchrock'' (1977) *''Pilot Error'' (1977) *''Live Bait'' (1978) *''Bombship'' (1980) *''Killing in Antiques'' (1981) *''Storyland Wall Frieze'' (1981) *''Tales of Crime'' (1982) *''Bloodtide'' (1982) *''The Hanging Tree'' (1983) *''Wavecrest'' (1985) *''The Crossfire Killings'' (1986) *''Dead Man's Mooring'' (1987) *''The Interface Man'' (1989) *''The Drowning Nets'' (1991) *''The Counterfeit Killers'' (1996) *''Lake of Fury'' (1996) *''An Incident in Iceland'' (1996) *''Place of Mists'' (1996) *''Salvage Job'' (1997) *''Blood Proof'' (1997) *''A Burial in Portugal'' (1997) *''Cargo Risk'' (1997) *''Isle of Dragons'' (1997) *''Nest of Vultures'' (1997) *''Country Club Wives'' (1997) *''A Cut in Diamonds'' (1997) *''Drum of Power'' (1998) *''Mayday from Malaga'' (1998) *''Death Bytes'' (1998) *''A Problem in Prague'' (1998) *''Cave of Bats'' (1998) *''Witchline'' (1999) *''The Lazarus Widow'' (with Martin Edwards) (1999)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knox, Bill 1928 births 1999 deaths Journalists from Glasgow Scottish crime writers Scottish television presenters Mass media people from Glasgow