Question: When was the author of the "R" is for Ricochet, a novel from a series of mystery novels, born?
Context: The Amelia Peabody series is a series of twenty historical mystery novels and one non-fiction companion volume written by Egyptologist Barbara Mertz (1927-2013) under the pen name Elizabeth Peters.  The series is centered on the adventures of the unconventional female Egyptologist Amelia Peabody Emerson, for whom the series is named, and an ever-increasing number of family, friends, allies, and characters both fictional and based on historical figures.  The novels blend mystery and romance with a wryly comic tone, and at times also parody Victorian-era adventure novels such as those written by H. Rider Haggard.  The series was published between 1975 and 2010, with the final, posthumous novel (completed by Joan Hess) appearing in 2017. Midnight Louie is the name of a slightly overweight (20 pounds) fictional black cat in a series of mystery novels by author Carole Nelson Douglas, and is the general title for the same series.  Each volume of the series is told from the point of view of the cat's "roommate", Temple Barr, a freelance public relations consultant, and from the point of view of Midnight Louie, the cat himself.  Midnight Louie's chapters are written in what the author describes as a style reminiscent of Damon Runyan, generic gumshoe, and Mrs. Malaprop.  As the Las Vegas-set series continues, three other main human characters have points of view: a hard-boiled female homicide detective, C.R. Molina; Matt Devine, an ex-priest; and Max Kinsella, a stage magician.  The mix of adventure, mystery, humor and social issues is why the author describes the series as "cozy-noir."  Midnight Louie was introduced as a character in the author's early romance-with-mystery series, initially called the "Crystal" series.  The author was not shown galleys of the books until she demanded them, too late to undo the romance editor's deep cuts of mystery elements, including Midnight Louie sections.  The books were later reverted and Douglas reissued them in the original form as "The Cat and a playing card" series.  In the interim, Douglas had started writing Midnight Louie's own new mystery series. Marion Gibbons, née "McChesney" (born 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a British popular and prolific writer of romance and mystery novels since 1979.  She has written numerous successful historical romance novels under (a form of) her maiden name, Marion Chesney, including the Travelling Matchmaker and Daughters of Mannerling series.  Using the pseudonym M. C. Beaton, she has also written many popular mystery novels, most notably the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth mystery series.  She has also written romance novels under the pseudonyms Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester. Janice Elva MacDonald (born 1959 in Banff, Alberta) is a Canadian writer of literary and mystery novels, textbooks, non-fiction, and stories for both adults and children.  She is best known as the creator of a series of comic academic mystery novels featuring reluctant amateur sleuth Miranda "Randy" Craig, all of which are set in Edmonton, Alberta.  The latest of these, "Another Margaret: A Randy Craig Mystery", released in September 2015, takes Miranda to a reunion of her fellow graduate school students and resurrects a mystery involving a Canadian literary figure who has been long-believed dead.  "The Roar of the Crowd: A Randy Craig Mystery" was released on July 10, 2014, with a plot involving the Edmonton theatre scene, including the Freewill Shakespeare Festival and the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival, and it went on to be nominated for the David Award for Best Mystery Novel at the 2015 Deadly Ink Conference and featured as a recommended read in both the "2015 Edmonton Travel Guide" and the 2015 "Avenue Magazine" Summer Reading Guide.  "Condemned to Repeat: A Randy Craig Mystery," was published on June 15, 2013, and involves a series of deadly events connected to Alberta historic sites, including Rutherford House, Fort Edmonton Park, and the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village; it debuted in the top spot on the Edmonton Journal's bestseller list on June 21, 2013 and went on to be shortlisted for the Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher at the 2013 Manitoba Book Awards as well as the David Award for Best Mystery Novel at the 2014 Deadly Ink Conference.  "Hang Down Your Head: A Randy Craig Mystery," was published in November 2011 and features "cameo" appearances by several real-life folk musicians, as well as a corpse discovered at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival.  The book was a hit in MacDonald's home city and spent more than six months on the Edmonton Journal's Top 10 list.  The book and its author were profiled on CBC Radio, CityTV's Breakfast Television show, in the Edmonton Journal, and in the Edmonton Examiner.  A January 2012 cover story in "Edmonton Woman Magazine" and a half-hour interview on the CKUA Radio Network's ArtBeat program, looked more extensively at the entire mystery series. "R" Is for Ricochet is the 18th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California. Beverle Graves Myers (born March 31, 1951) is an American author of mystery novels and short stories.  Her major work is the Tito Amato mystery series set in 18th-century Venice, published by Poisoned Pen Press.  She is also the co-author, with Joanne Dobson, of a stand-alone crime novel set in New York City on the eve of World War II.  Myers' novels are traditional mysteries which feature a large cast of characters, a deep sense of time and place, and meticulously researched period details.  Myers' short stories are set in a variety of times and places; several stories feature her series characters. James D. Doss (1939, Kentucky, -17 May 2012) was a noted American mystery novel author.  He was the creator of the popular fictional Ute detective/rancher Charlie Moon, of whom he wrote 17 mystery novels.  James "Danny" Doss was born and raised in Kentucky and died in Los Alamos, New Mexico.  He was also an electrical engineer who worked on particle accelerators and biomedical technology for the University of California's Los Alamos National Laboratory, while writing his novels.  After retirement from Los Alamos National Laboratory, he continued to write his popular novels while living in Taos, New Mexico and Los Alamos, New Mexico. Sue Taylor Grafton (born April 24, 1940) is a contemporary American author of detective novels.  She is best known as the author of the 'alphabet series' (""A" Is for Alibi", etc.) featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, California.  The daughter of detective novelist C. W. Grafton, she has said the strongest influence on her crime novels is author Ross Macdonald.  Prior to success with this series, she wrote screenplays for television movies. The Devotion of Suspect X (容疑者Xの献身 , Yōgisha Ekkusu no Kenshin ) is a 2005 novel by Keigo Higashino, the third in his Detective Galileo series and is his most acclaimed work thus far.  The novel won him numerous awards, including the 134th Naoki Prize, which is a highly regarded award in Japan.  The novel also won the 6th Honkaku Mystery Award, which is one of the most prestigious awards in the mystery novels category in Japan. " 2006 Honkaku Mystery Best 10" and "Kono Mystery ga Sugoi!  2006", annual mystery fiction guide books published in Japan, ranked the novel as the number one. Mary Stanton (born 1947 in Winter Park, Florida) is an American author most famous for her eight-volume children's fantasy series "Unicorns of Balinor".  Writing under the pseudonym Claudia Bishop, she is also the author of 14 mystery novels in the "Hemlock Falls" series published by Berkley Prime Crime, three novels in the "Casebooks of Dr. Mckenzie" mystery series, and the senior editor of three mystery story anthologies: "Death Dines At Eight-Thirty", "Death Dines In", and "A Merry Band of Murderers".
Answer: April 24, 1940