Author: Billie Houston
Alternate names: Sarah McMahon Gribbin; Sarah M. Gribbin; Sarah Gribbin
Born: 15 October 1906
Died: 30 September 1972
Bio: > Billie Houston was the stage name of Sarah McMahon Gribbin, born in Shettleston, Glasgow, in 1906. Her parents James Gribbin and Elizabeth Houston were music hall performers who had a song and dance act. Her older sister Renée (Caterina Rita Murphy Gribbin, 1902-80) began a stage career in 1912. Four years later, with their parents suffering from ill-health, the two girls began working together as the Houston Sisters.

>In 1935 Billie published her only crime novel, *Twice Round the Clock.* Billie's first marriage (to Bobby Wilton, son of the well-known comedian Rob Wilton) ended in divorce and in 1938 her second husband, the actor Richard Cowper, died. In 1939, she married again, to Paul Wills-Eve, and this marriage lasted until her death from emphysema in 1972. They had two children, Carole and Anton.

>After the Second World War, Billie was much less visible in public than her sister. This was due in part to the fact that she found contentment in the domestic life but also due to continuing health problems. Her husband Paul was a journalist who spent several years as bureau chief of United Press International; as a result, the family was based in Paris, a city Billie loved. 

>From the early 1950s onwards, Billie was a semi-invalid, but she showed considerable courage in coping with her physical limitations and continued to travel extensively. Always a voracious reader of detective fiction, she was a devotee of female authors such as Sayers, Marsh, and Allingham. She also developed into a formidable chess player, reaching regional championship standard.

>At one point, Billie thought about writing another crime novel, tentatively entitled *Whatever Happened to Aunt Jane?*, but she never got beyond the stage of writing notes for an outline.
>>[From Introduction by Martin Edwards to British Library's 2023 reissue of *Twice Round the Clock.*]