Edith Caroline Rivett (6 May 1894 – 2 July 1958) was a British crime writer, who wrote under the pseudonyms E. C. R. Lorac, Carol Carnac and Mary Le Bourne during the golden age of detective fiction. Life and career Childhood The youngest daughter of Harry (1861–1900) and Beatrice Rivett (née Foot; 1868–1943), Edith was born in Hendon, Middlesex, (now London) on 6 May 1894. She had two sisters. In 1898 the family emigrated to Australia, for warm weather to treat Harry Rivett's tuberculosis. This was unsuccessful, and in 1900 the family returned, traveling on the SS Illawarra. Harry Rivett died on the voyage, and was buried at sea. When the family reached London, they were literally penniless but were received into the welcoming, if crowded, household of Beatrice Rivett's father, Edward Foot, and the widow found employment as an assistant rate collector. Edith attended South Hampstead High School, and the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London and she continued as a craft practitioner throughout her life; her work included embroidery and calligraphy that has been on display at Westminster Abbey. Literary career She published her first detective novel in 1931; this was The Murder on the Burrows, a well-crafted debut which launched her detective Macdonald on a career that was to last for more than a quarter of a century. Nine Lorac novels were published by Sampson Low, earning increasingly favorable reviews, before she moved to the more prestigious imprint of Collins Crime Club in 1936, with Crime Counter Crime, set during a General Election. She remained a Crime Club stalwart for the rest of her life. John Curran, historian of the Crime Club, argues that she was especially well served by the designers of the cover artwork for her books, and this is no doubt one of the factors that has made her work especially collectible. First editions in the attractive dust jackets of the period can now change hands—on the rare occasions when they come on to the market—for thousands of pounds. She was equally at home with urban and rural settings. Her early books include Murder in St John’s Wood and Murder in Chelsea, while two other books set in London, Bats in the Belfry and the war-time mystery Murder by Matchlight. Like Rosanne Manaton, she was artistic and had an interest in ski-ing; the winter sport plays a central part in her Carol