Carolyn Wells (June 18, 1862 — March 26, 1942) was an American mystery author.

Life and career

Born in

Rahway, New Jersey Rahway () is a city in southern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway Valley region, in the New York metropolitan area. The city is southwest of Manhattan ...

, she was the daughter of William E. and Anna Wells. After finishing school she worked as a

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

for the Rahway Library Association. Her first book, ''At the Sign of the Sphinx'' (1896), was a collection of literary charades. Her next publications were ''The Jingle Book'' and ''The Story of Betty'' (1899), followed by a book of verse entitled ''Idle Idyls'' (1900). After 1900, Wells wrote numerous novels and collections of poetry. Carolyn Wells wrote a total 170 books. During the first ten years of her career, she concentrated on poetry, humor, and children's books. According to her autobiography, ''The Rest of My Life'' (1937), she heard ''That Affair Next Door'' (1897), one of

Anna Katharine Green Anna Katharine Green (November 11, 1846 – April 11, 1935) was an American poet and novelist. She was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories. Green ...

's mystery novels, being read aloud and was immediately captivated by the unraveling of the puzzle. From that point onward she devoted herself to the mystery genre. Among the most famous of her mystery novels were the Fleming Stone Detective Stories which—according to Allen J. Hubin's ''Crime Fiction IV: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 1749–2000'' (2003)—number 61 titles. Wells's ''The Clue'' (1909) is on the Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone list of essential mysteries. She was also the first to conduct a (brief, in this case) annual series devoted to the best short crime fiction of the previous year in the U.S., beginning with ''The Best American Mystery Stories of the Year'' (1931) (though others had begun a similar British series in 1929). In addition to books, Wells also wrote for newspapers. Her poetry accompanies the work of some of the leading lights in illustration and cartooning, often in the form of Sunday magazine cover features that formed continuing narratives from week to week. Her first known illustrated newspaper work is a two part series titled ''Animal Alphabet'', illustrated by William F. Marriner, which appeared in the Sunday comics section of the

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publi ...

. Many additional series ensued over the years, including the bizarre classic ''Adventures of Lovely Lilly'' (

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the ''New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. His ...

, 1906–07). The last series she penned was ''Flossy Frills Helps Out'' (

American Weekly ''The American Weekly'' was a Sunday magazine, Sunday newspaper supplement published by the Hearst Corporation from November 1, 1896, until 1966. History During the 1890s, publications were inserted into Joseph Pulitzer's ''New York World'' and ...

, 1942), which appeared after her death. She died at the

Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital New York Medical College (NYMC or New York Med) is a private medical school in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1860, it is a member of the Touro College and University System. NYMC offers advanced degrees through its three schools: the School o ...

in New York City in 1942. Wells had been married to Hadwin Houghton, the heir of the

Houghton-Mifflin Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Boston Financ ...

publishing empire founded by H.O.Houghton. Wells also had an impressive collection of volumes of poetry by others. She bequeathed her collection of

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...

poetry, said to be one of the most important of its kind for its completeness and rarity, to the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Adult fiction

Before 1900 * ''at the sign of shinx'' (1896) * ''the jingle book(original version)'' (1899) * ''the story of betty ''(1899) ;Fleming Stone mysteries * ''The Clue'' (1909) * ''The Gold Bag'' (1911). First published Lippincott's Magazine, February 1910. * ''A Chain of Evidence'' (1912) * ''The Maxwell Mystery'' (1913) * ''Anybody But Anne'' (1914) * ''The White Alley'' (1915) * ''The Curved Blades'' (1915) * ''The Mark of Cain'' (1917) * ''Vicky Van'' (1918) * ''The Diamond Pin'' (1919) * ''Raspberry Jam'' (1920) * ''The Mystery of the Sycamore'' (1921) * ''The Mystery Girl'' (1922) * ''Feathers Left Around'' (1923) * ''Spooky Hollow'' (1923) * ''The Furthest Fury'' (1924) * ''Prillilgirl'' (1924) * ''Anything But the Truth'' (1925) * ''The Daughter of the House'' (1925) * ''The Bronze Hand'' (1926) * ''The Red-Haired Girl'' (1926) * ''The Vanity Case'' (1926) * ''All at Sea'' (1927) * ''Where Emily'' (1927) * ''The Crime in the Crypt'' (1928) * ''The Tannahill Tangle'' (1928) * ''The Tapestry Room Murder'' (1928) * ''Triple Murder'' (1929) * ''The Doomed Five'' (1930) * ''The Ghosts' High Noon'' (1930) * ''Horror House'' (1931) * ''The Umbrella Murder'' (1931) * ''Fuller Earth'' (1932) * ''The Roll-Top Desk Mystery'' (1932) * ''The Broken O'' (1933) (also published as ''Honeymoon Murder'') * ''The Clue of the Eyelash'' (1933) * ''The Master Murderer'' (1933) * ''Eyes in the Wall'' (1934) * ''The Visiting Villain'' (1934) * ''The Beautiful Derelict'' (1935) * ''For Goodness' Sake'' (1935) * ''The Wooden Indian'' (1935) * ''The Huddle'' (1936) * ''In the Tiger Cage'' (1936) * ''Money Musk'' (1936) * ''Murder in the Bookshop'' (1936) * ''The Mystery of the Tarn'' (1937) * ''The Radio Studio Murder'' (1937) * ''Gilt Edged Guilt'' (1938) * ''The Killer'' (1938) * ''The Missing Link'' (1938) * ''Calling All Suspects'' (1939) * ''Crime Tears On'' (1939) * ''The Importance of Being Murdered'' (1939) * ''Crime Incarnate'' (1940) * ''Devil Work'' (1940) * ''Murder On Parade'' (1940) * ''Murder Plus'' (1940) * ''The Black Night Murders'' (1941) * ''Murder at the Casino'' (1941) * ''Murder Will In'' (1942) * ''Who Killed Caldwell?'' (1942) ;Alan Ford * ''The Bride of a Moment'' (1916) * ''Faulkner Folly'' (1917) ;Pennington Wise * ''The Room with the Tassels'' (1918) * ''The Man Who Fell Through the Earth'' (1919) * ''In the Onyx Lobby'' (1920) * ''The Come-Back'' (1921) * ''The Luminous Face'' (1921) * ''The Vanishing of Betty Varian'' (1922) * ''The Affair at Flower Acres'' (1923) * ''Wheels Within Wheels'' (1923) ;Kenneth Carlisle * ''Sleeping Dogs'' (1929) * ''The Doorstep Murders'' (1930) * ''The Skeleton at the Feast'' (1931) ;Other mysteries * ''The Adventure of the Clothes-Line'' (The Century magazine, May 1915Reprinted in the 2019 Baker Street Almanac, pages 286-29

) * ''More Lives Than One'' (1923) * ''The Fourteenth Key'' (1924) * ''The Moss Mystery'' (1924) * ''Face Cards'' (1925) (features Tony Barron) * ''The Deep-Lake Mystery'' (1928) (features Blake Norris) ;Other novels * ''Abeniki Caldwell: A Burlesque Historical Novel'' (1902) * ''The Emily Emmins Papers'' (1907) * ''The Lover's Baedeker and Guide to Arcady'' (1912) (a fictional guidebook) * ''Ptomaine Street: A Tale of Warble Petticoat'' (1921) ;Story collections * ''The Omnibus Fleming Stone'' (1923) (Includes ''Vicky Van, Spooky Hollow, The Mystery of the Sycamore, The Curved Blades'') Argosy 19171229

Children's fiction

; Patty Fairfield # ''Patty Fairfield'' (1901) # ''Patty at Home'' (1904) # ''Patty in the City'' (1905) # ''Patty Summer Days'' (1906) # ''Patty in Paris'' (1907) # ''Patty Friends'' (1908) # ''Patty Pleasure Trip'' (1909) # ''Patty Success'' (1910) # ''Patty Motor Car'' (1911) # ''Patty Butterfly Days'' (1912) # ''Patty Social Season'' (1913) # ''Patty Suitors'' (1914) # ''Patty Romance'' (1915) # ''Patty Fortune'' (1916) # ''Patty Blossom'' (1917) # ''Patty-Bride'' (1918) # ''Patty and Azalea'' (1919) # ''How to Tell a wild animal ;Marjorie Maynard # ''Marjorie Vacation'' (1907) # ''Marjorie Busy Days'' (1908) # ''Marjorie New Friend'' (1909) # ''Marjorie in Command'' (1910) # ''Marjorie Maytime'' (1911) # ''Marjorie at Seacote'' (1912) ;Dorrance Family # ''The Dorrance Domain'' (1905) # ''Dorrance Doings'' (1906) ;Two Little Women # ''Two Little Women'' (1915) # ''Two Little Women and Treasure House'' (1916) # ''Two Little Women on a Holiday'' (1917) ;Other novels * ''Folly in Fairyland'' (1901) * ''In the Reign of Queen Dick'' (1904) * ''Dick and Dolly (1909) * ''Dick and Dolly Adventures'' (1910) * ''The Story of Betty'' (1911) ;Collections * ''Mother Goose's Menagerie'', illustrated by

Peter Newell Peter Sheaf Hersey Newell (March 5, 1862 – January 15, 1924) was an American artist and writer. He created picture books and illustrated new editions of many children's books. A native of McDonough County, Illinois, Newell built a reputati ...

(Noyes, Platt & Co., 1901) �
e-copy
at

HathiTrust Digital Library HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally ...

* ''Children of Our Town'' by E. Mars and M. H. Squire with verses by Wells (R. H. Russell, 1902) �
e-copy
at Library of Congress

Nonfiction prose

* ''The Technique of the Mystery Story'' (1913) * ''On Finishing Collector'' (1926) * ''The Rest of My Life'' (1937)

Verse

* ''At the Sign of the Sphinx'' (1896) * ''Rubaiyat of a Motor Car'' (Dodd, Mead, 1906), illustrated by Frederick Strothmann * ''The Re-Echo club'' (1913) * ''Diversions of the Re-Echo Club'' (1936) * ''Ballade of Baker Street'' (1939) * ''A Whimsey Anthology'' (New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1906)

Anthologies (as editor)

* ''A Parody Anthology'' (1904) * ''A Satire Anthology'' (1905) * ''A Whimsey Anthology'' (1906) * ''A Vers de Société Anthology'' (1907) * ''A Nonsense Anthology'' (1910) * ''Such Nonsense!: An Anthology'' (1918) (different than ''A Nonsense Anthology'') * ''The Book of Humorous Verse'' (1920) * ''The Best American Mystery Stories of the Year'' (1931, 1932)

References

External links

* * * * * *
Discussion of Wells mystery writing
* Carolyn Wells, "Why Women Read Detective Stories"
''True Detective Mysteries''
September 1930) pp. 18–19, 105-06 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Carolyn 1862 births 1942 deaths 20th-century American novelists American women novelists American women poets American mystery writers American children's writers People from Rahway, New Jersey Novelists from New Jersey American women children's writers Women mystery writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American poets