Helen Clark MacInnes was a renowned Scottish-American author known for her espionage novels. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on October 7, 1907, and passed away in New York, U.S., on September 30, 1985.

MacInnes graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1928 with a degree in French and German. She worked as a librarian and married Professor Gilbert Highet in 1932. The couple moved to New York in 1937, where Highet taught classics at Columbia University. Helen MacInnes became an American citizen in 1951.

She wrote her first novel, Above Suspicion, in 1939, and went on to author twenty-one novels of suspense, intrigue, and espionage. Her works were hugely popular, with over 23 million copies sold in 22 languages. Four of her novels were adapted into films, including the 1941 book Above Suspicion, which was made into a movie in 1943.