Charlotte Riddell (1832-1906), also known as Mrs. J.H. Riddell and F.G. Trafford, was a well-known writer of supernatural fiction.  In an essay on her life, S.M. Ellis  called her “a born story-teller”. In addition to producing numerous novels, she wrote a tremendous number of short stories and tales for a wide variety of publications. Ellis wrote that she had written so many that  “she lost all count of her works, possessed very few copies of them herself, and often forgot where certain stories had appeared or what had happened to her rights in them.” At her time, she was compared with Sheridan Le Fanu and her work was praised by M.R. James, a master of supernatural fiction himself.

In addition to being a writer of popular supernatural fiction, Riddell also was part owner of the literary journal St. James’ Magazine. While Riddell has occasionally had stories appear in anthologies of supernatural fiction, her work has been out of print and often difficult to find in the past. There are some recent collections of her work that have been published, however, that include some of her better-known novels, novelettes, and short stories.