Marie Belloc Lowndes (1868-1947) was an English novelist, perhaps most known for her 1913 novel The Lodger. The story was based on the 1888 Whitechapel murders, committed by Jack the Ripper. In 1927 a film version of the story was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Belloc Lowndes also created the fictional French detective Hercules Popeau.[1]