Elizabeth Gill was born Elizabeth Joyce Copping in 1901, into a family including journalists, novelists and illustrators. She married for the first time, at the age of 19, to archaeologist Kenneth Codrington. Her second marriage, to artist Colin Gill, lasted until her death, at the age of only 32, in 1934, following complications from surgery.

She is the author of three golden age mystery novels, The Crime Coast (aka Strange Holiday) (1931), What Dread Hand? (1932), and Crime de Luxe (1933), all featuring eccentric but perceptive artist-detective Benvenuto Brown.