Ethel Lina White (1876–1944) was born in Wales and, together with several of her siblings, worked for her father’s construction materials business. After their mother died and the family lost all their money, White and two sisters moved to London where she got a job with the Ministry of Pensions. She had been writing for many years and had had several short stories published. In the mid-1920s she completed her first novel, The Wish-Bone (1927), and the modest success of this and two other early titles—including the futuristic fantasy The Eternal Journey (1930)—prompted her to take up writing as a career. Her first novel-length mystery, Put Out the Light (1931), is a brilliantly structured puzzle. It is especially noteworthy for the focus on the psychology of the characters, something that became a hallmark of her work.
White’s many novels include Some Must Watch (1935), filmed as The Spiral Staircase (1946), and The Wheel Spins (1936), filmed as The Lady Vanishes (1939). Both films have been remade and her work remains popular with anthologists.
Even at the height of her success, White shunned publicity and would not talk about herself. As Peter Cheyney wrote in introduction to this story: ‘She says in answer to my queries: “I was not born. I have never been educated and have no tastes or hobbies. This is my story and I’m sticking to it.”’ ‘And the Answer Was …’ was published by the Sunday Dispatch on 13 March 1938.