Marie Belloc Lowndes

Marie Belloc Lowndes (1868–1947) was a prolific British novelist and playwright who mastered the art of psychological suspense. Born in London to a French father and English mother, she grew up surrounded by literary influences her brother was the writer Hilaire Belloc. Over her five-decade career, she published more than forty books, but none achieved the lasting fame of The Lodger (1913). Inspired by the real-life Jack the Ripper murders, the novel redefined crime fiction by shifting the terror from the streets into the home.