Margot Bennett (writer)


Margot Bennett, born Margot Mitchell, was a Scottish-born screenwriter and author of crime and thriller novels.

Early life

Margot Mitchell was born in Lenzie, Dunbartonshire, Scotland. She was educated in Scotland and in Australia.

Career

Before publishing fiction, Bennett worked as an advertising copywriter in Sydney and London. During the Spanish Civil War, she worked as a nurse, translator, and broadcaster for the Spanish Medical Aid. During her war nursing work, she broke her arm when a truck overturned, and she was shot in both legs.
Bennett was a regular writer for Lilliput magazine between 1943 and 1950. She is best remembered for her crime fiction from the 1940s and 1950s, though she also wrote contemporary literature, thrillers and a science guide, The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Atomic Radiation. She wrote two science fiction novels, one of which was The Long Way Back, about African colonization of Britain following a nuclear holocaust. Her novel The Man Who Didn't Fly was nominated for a Gold Dagger Award. In a 1962 review essay in The New York Times, Anthony Boucher counted Bennett among "the best Englishwomen in the suspense field," alongside Charity Blackstock, Nina Bawden, and Joan Fleming.
Bennett wrote scripts for television, including contributions to Maigret, Emergency-Ward 10, Market in Honey Lane and Quick Before They Catch Us. She also wrote the screenplays for her books which were adapted for the screen.

Personal life

During the Spanish Civil War, Margot Miller met Richard Lawrence Bennett, an English journalist and writer who had served in the Spanish Republican Army since 1936. During the conflict, he had written broadcasts for Radio Catalan. They were married in 19387 in Barcelona, the ceremony being conducted by a Republican soldier. They had three sons and a daughter. One of her sons, Rob, died from muscular dystrophy.
Bennett was a supporter of left-wing politics, including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Bennett lived in London in her later life. She died there in 1980, aged 68 years.

Novels

TitleDateGenrePublisherISBNNotes
Time to Change Hats1945CrimeNicholsonFeatures John Davies
Away Went the Little Fish1946CrimeNicholsonFeatures John Davies
The Golden Pebble1948ThrillerNicholsonNot published in the USA
The Widow of Bath1952CrimeEyre & SpottiswoodeAdapted into a TV serial in 1959
Farewell Crown and Goodbye King1952ThrillerEyre & Spottiswoode
The Long Way Back1955Science FictionThe Bodley Head
The Man Who Didn't Fly1955ThrillerEyre & SpottiswoodeShortlisted for Gold Dagger Award. Adapted into a TV episode by Kraft Theatre in 1958.
2020British Library PublishingReissued.
Someone from the Past1958CrimeEyre & SpottiswoodeWon Gold Dagger Award
That Summer's Earthquake1964Literary FictionEyre & SpottiswoodeNot published in the USA
The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Atomic Radiation1964SciencePenguin
The Furious Masters1968Science FictionEyre & SpottiswoodePublished in Dutch in 1970

Short stories

Television Projects Contributed To

Screenplays