Marie Belloc Lowndes (1868 – 1947) was a prolific English novelist, and sister of author Hilaire Belloc. she had a literary reputation for combining exciting incidents with psychological interest. Four of her works were adapted for the screen: The Chink in the Armour, The Lodger, Letty Lynton, and The Story of Ivy. She produced over 40 novels in all – mainly mysteries, though she herself resented being classed as a crime writer. She created the French detective Hercules Popeau, roughly contemporaneously to Agatha Christie’s creation of Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Ernest Hemingway praised her insight into female psychology, revealed above all in the situation of the ordinary mind failing to cope with the impact of the extraordinary.