Neil McGaughey

Neil McGaughey

The author of the "Stokes Moran" mystery series, Neil McGaughey (pronounced "McGoy") was born October 3, 1951, in Natchez, Mississippi. He was educated at William Carey College in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1973. A collector of first-edition mystery novels, he worked for The Clarion Ledger newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi, as a reviewer of mystery novels from 1985 to 1995. He served also as a vice president and board member of the Mississippi Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse. He was a member of the Mystery Writers of America, in which capacity he served as Chairperson for the 1996 Edgar Committee for Best Critical or Biographical Work for the organization.

His first novel, Otherwise Known as Murder in 1994, introduced Stokes Moran, who was hailed by Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine as "a character who is going to have readers clamoring for more." He wrote three more Stokes Moran novels, which culminated in A Corpse by Any Other Name, published in 1997.

McGaughey was working on a fifth novel when he died September 21, 1999, in Prentiss, Mississippi.

Article updated February 23, 2001