Frances and Richard Lockridge were two of the most popular names in mystery during the forties and fifties. Inspired by Richard's series of non-mystery stories for The New Yorker about a publisher and his wife, Mr and Mrs North, the Lockridge husband-and-wife duo collaborated successfully to write twenty-six mystery novels about the couple, which, in turn, became the subject of a Broadway play, a movie (starring Gracie Allen), and series for both radio and television.