Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a renowned French journalist and author of detective fiction. Born in Paris, he became famous for his novels of terror and mystery. His most celebrated work is The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra), written in 1909, which has been adapted into numerous films and a successful stage musical.

Leroux was also the author of The Mystery of the Yellow Room, a highly acclaimed locked room mystery published in 1907. He attended school in Normandy and studied law in Paris, graduating in 1889. After inheriting a fortune and losing it, he embarked on a career in journalism, working as a court reporter and theater critic for L'Écho de Paris.