Theodora McCormick Du Bois (September 14, 1890 – February 1, 1986) was an American writer of

genre fiction Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre. A num ...

, including mysteries,

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

historical romances Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Walter Scott helped popularize in the early 19th century. Varieties Viking These books feature Vikings during the Da ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

Early life

Theodora Brenton Eliot McCormick was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, the daughter of Eliot McCormick, a writer and editor, and Laura Case Brenton McCormick. She was raised by her mother and stepfather, Charles MacDonald, after her father's death in 1891. She attended the Barnard School for Girls in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, and the Halsted School in Yonkers. She was a student in the

Dartmouth Dartmouth may refer to: Places * Dartmouth, Devon, England ** Dartmouth Harbour * Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States * Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada * Dartmouth, Victoria, Australia Institutions * Dartmouth College, Ivy League university i ...

Summer School for Drama in 1916.Authors
Detective Book Club. She was accepted to Vassar in 1909, but her parents did not support her attendance. She planned to attend, but was diagnosed with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

and spent several months in a

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...

. She wrote a great deal of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

during her illness, but dedicated herself to prose thereafter.

Career

Theodora McCormick Du Bois was a prolific

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

of mystery novels as "Theodora Du Bois", and of historical romances as "Theodora McCormick". "Fresh as football weather and as up to date as Radio City, this story has a verve seldom found in the usual run of boarding-house stories," commented the ''New York Times'' reviewer Ellen Lewis Buell of McCormick's juvenile novel, ''Diana's Feathers'' (1935). Her fantasy and science fiction novels included ''The Devil's Spoon'' (1930), ''Murder Strikes an Atomic Unit'' (1946), ''Solution T-25'' (1951) and ''Sarah Hall's Sea God'' (1952)."Theodora Du Bois"
''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (2018). Theodora McCormick also co-wrote a book, ''Amateur and Educational Dramatics'' (1917), with Evelyne Hilliard and Kate Oglebay. She published short fiction too, beginning with "Thursday and the King and Queen" ('' Woman's Home Companion'', 1920), and including "Devils and Four Gold Cups" (''

The Century Magazine ''The Century Magazine'' was an illustrated monthly magazine first published in the United States in 1881 by The Century Company of New York City, which had been bought in that year by Roswell Smith and renamed by him after the Century Associatio ...

'', 1921), "Eblis" ('' Harper's'', 1926), "Circe" (''The Century Magazine'', 1927), "King Solomon or the Iceman" (''The Century Magazine'', 1927), "A Pirate in the Linen Closet" (''The Century Magazine'', 1927), "Martyrs in the Ice-Box" (''The Century Magazine'', 1928). About half of Du Bois's books featured the characters Jeffrey McNeill, a forensic scientist, and his wife Anne McNeill, who narrates their mystery-solving adventures. Her unflattering depiction of the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

hearings in ''Seeing Red'' (1954) caused her publisher, Doubleday, to stop publishing her books.

Selected works

*''The Devil's Spoon'' (1930) *''Diana's Feathers'' (1935) *''Armed with a New Terror'' (1936) *''Death Wears a White Coat'' (1938) *''Death Tears a Comic Strip'' (1939) *''Death Dines Out'' (1939) *''Death Comes to Tea'' (1940) *''Death is Late to Lunch'' (1941) *''The McNeills Chase a Ghost'' (1941) *''The Body Goes Round and Round'' (1942) *''The Wild Duck Murders'' (1943) *''Banjo the Crow'' (1943) *''The Case of the Perfumed Mouse'' (1944) *''Death Sails in a High Wind'' (1945) *''Murder Strikes an Atomic Unit'' (1946) *''The Footsteps'' (1947) *''The Devil and Destiny'' (1948) *''The Face of Hate'' (1948) *''Rogue's Coat'' (1949) *''Its Raining Violence'' (1949) *''High Tension'' (1950) *''We Merrily Put to Sea'' (1950) *''Solution T-25'' (1951) *''Fowl Play'' (1951) *''The Cavalier’s Corpse'' (1952) *''Sarah Hall's Sea God'' (1952) *''Freedom’s Way'' (1953) *''The Listener'' (1953) *''Seeing Red'' (1954) *''The Emerald Crown'' (1955) *''The Love of Fingin O’Lea'' (1957) *''Rich Boy-Poor Boy'' (1961) *''Captive of Rome'' (1962) *''Tiger Burning Bright'' (1964) *''Shannon Terror'' (1964) *''Dangerous Rescue'' (1964) *''The Late Bride'' (1964) *''The High King’s Daughter'' (1965)

Personal life

Theodora McCormick moved to Dongan Hills, Staten Island after marrying engineer Delafield Du Bois in 1918. His grandmother was sculptor and philanthropist

Mary Ann Delafield DuBois Mary Ann Delafield DuBois (November 6, 1813 — October 27, 1888) was an American sculptor and philanthropist. In 1854 she was co-founder of New York Nursery and Child's Hospital, and was the hospital's director. Early life Mary Ann Delafield w ...

. They had two children, Theodora (born 1919) and Eliot (born 1922). Her husband worked on the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

; during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the couple organized a committee at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

to assist displaced academics from Cambridge and Oxford, and their families. She was widowed when he died in 1965."Delafield Dubois Dies, Developed Metabolism Test"
''Hartford Courant'' (January 8, 1965): 4. via Newspapers.com She died in 1986, aged 95 years. Her papers are held by the Archives and Special Collections department, College of Staten Island.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Du Bois, Theodora McCormick 1890 births 1986 deaths 20th-century American women writers American mystery writers American science fiction writers Writers from Staten Island