Here's what I had to say about the character and his cast in a recent interview:

Richard Knight is from that breed of heroes so common in the 30s and 40s and relatively rare now, the man who women want and men want to be. He's handsome, rich, competent at everything he does, and moral. Few know that he's also a top government agent and airman. He's Bruce Wayne with a designer biplane. What makes Knight of note is the combination of air ace and detective. He's the government's go-to troubleshooter for any aviation mystery.

However, as with quite a few such heroes there's really only one girl for him; in this case a Spanish princess from a lost civilisation whom he rescued in his debut adventure. Benita Nayarre is a definite contender for the Olive Oyl Kidnapee of the Year Award, since she's carried off in every single one of the original stories I've read. Fortunately she's of the brave-captive-struggling-against-her-captors school of heroines so she doesn't come across as too wet and useless. She usually manages the Lois Lane trick of discovering the vital clue while she's a prisoner, so that's alright. Benita's unusual upbringing gives her a different perspective than many typical 30s romance interests.

Knight also has one of those dim, loyal two-fisted buddies who is there to ask the reader's questions, to occasionally foul up so the hero doesn't have to, and offer reactions to show how clever the main character is being. Lt. Larry Doyle's a great character in his own right, Ben Grim without the orange rocks. Fiction shies away from the loyal companion friend who doggedly accompanies the genius hero these days, but Doyle's a fine example of how that can work.

The fourth and final regular cast member is Knight's boss, Head of Military Intelligence Major General John Brett. He's a typical old-school C.O., straight, square-jawed, honourable, patriotic, and loyal to his men. He comes from the days before mounting public cynicism expected all bosses to be dumb, corrupt, narrow-minded, or restrictive. He doesn't have to bawl Knight out like Captain Dobie with Starsky and Hutch. Knight doesn't have to work around him like Axel Foley with his superiors. It's Brett's straight-arrow nature that makes him interesting in the cast; kind of like having a 60-year old Captain America as your chief.

The formula is pretty simple, from a simple time, but that's the charm of the character and his stories. It's stripped-down mystery and action where the plot drives the narrative on. That's not to say that Keyhoe didn't provide emotion or character, only that he used primary colours to paint his literary canvas to achieve a clean, concentrated effect.

And apologies about the late Amazon delivery. For the 55% of my fee they take you think they'd be more prompt. In compensation I e-mailed you a link and code to download a free review copy of Richard Knight. Unfortunately Comcast still hates either you or me and bounced two attempts back as spam. Sorry about that too.