Patricia Highsmith (Jan 19, 1921 – Feb 4, 1995) was an American novelist and short story writer widely known for her psychological thrillers. She wrote 22 novels and numerous short stories throughout her career spanning nearly five decades, and her work has led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her writing derived influence from existentialist literature and questioned notions of identity and popular morality. Her first novel, Strangers on a Train, has been adapted for stage and screen, the best known being the Alfred Hitchcock film released in 1951. Her 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley has been adapted for film. Writing under the pseudonym Claire Morgan, Highsmith published the first lesbian novel with a happy ending, The Price of Salt, in 1952, republished 38 years later as Carol under her own name and later adapted into a 2015 film Less