Ethel Mary Bredin was born in Ireland on 17th October 1875 of an Anglo-Irish clergyman father and an English mother. In 1909 she married the Revd Francis Granville Channon, chaplain and mathematics tutor at Eton, and, in between having two sons and four daughters, began her literary career.  She published eight novels for adults between 1909 and 1915 before turning to the schoolgirls’ fiction (The Honour of the House, A Fifth Form Martyr, Expelled from School and many others)for which she is best known.  In 1929 she experimented with a few crime novels; The Chimney Murder (1929) was closely followed by Twice Dead (1930) and The Gilt-Edged Murder (1932).  Her last novel, Little G (1936), concerns a Cambridge mathematics don and is thought to be her best work.  She has a flamboyant style all her own: melodramatic touches are balanced with wit and humour and her characters are always believable.  She died in June 1941.