HELEN MACINNES, who has earned a distinguished reputation as a creator of best-selling, highly literate suspense novels set against a background of contemporary history, began to write in 1939. She was born in Scotland, Miss Maclnnes was graduated from the University of Glasgow and later studied at University College in London. After her marriage she went to live in Oxford, where her husband was a Don at St. John's College, and where their son was born. While there, she acted in various college productions. She became American citizen in 1951. She died in 1985.