Carolyn Wells

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Carolyn Wells
Picture of Carolyn Wells.jpg
Carolyn Wells in 1918
Born(1862-06-18)18 June 1862
Rahway, New Jersey, U.S.
Died26 March 1942(1942-03-26) (aged 79)
New York City, U.S.
OccupationsAuthor, poet, librarian
SpouseHadwin Houghton (m. 1918; died 1919)

Carolyn Wells (June 18, 1862 - March 26, 1942) was an American mystery author, poet, humorist, and children's writer. [1] Over her career, she authored more than 170 books, spanning genres including detective fiction, poetry, humor, and young adult literature. [1] [2] Known for her prolific output, Wells was a prominent figure in early 20th-century American literature, particularly in the mystery genre, where she created the long-running Fleming Stone series. [3] Despite her contemporary success, her work fell into obscurity after her death, a phenomenon explored in recent biographies. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Born in Rahway, New Jersey, Wells was the daughter of William Edmund Wells, a businessman, and Anna Potter Wells (née Woodruff). [3] [4] She grew up in a middle-class family and demonstrated remarkable literacy from a young age, developing an early passion for reading, puzzles, and word games. [4] [3] Wells attended local schools in Rahway and supplemented her formal education with extensive self-directed reading. [1]

After completing her schooling, Wells worked as a librarian at the Rahway Library Association, a position that allowed her to immerse herself in books and further hone her literary skills. [1] [4]

Career

Wells began her writing career in the 1890s with puzzles, light verse, and nonsense literature. Her debut book, At the Sign of the Sphinx (1896), was a collection of literary charades. [1] This was followed by The Jingle Book (1899), a volume of humorous verse, and The Story of Betty (1899), her first novel. [1]

In the early years of her career (1896-1906), Wells focused on poetry, humor, and children's literature. [3] She contributed nonsense verse and whimsical pieces to magazines and created illustrated newspaper series, such as Animal Alphabet (New York World) and Adventures of Lovely Lilly (New York Herald, 1906-1907). [3]

A pivotal moment came when Wells heard Anna Katharine Green's mystery novel That Affair Next Door (1897) read aloud, inspiring her to shift to detective fiction. [3] [5] Her first mystery, The Clue (1909), introduced detective Fleming Stone and was included on the Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone list of essential mysteries. [5] The Fleming Stone series comprised 61 novels, one of the longest-running detective series of its era. [3]

Wells also created other detective characters, including Pennington Wise and Kenneth Carlisle, and edited anthologies such as A Nonsense Anthology (1910) and The Best American Mystery Stories of the Year (1931-1932). [3] [1] She wrote for newspapers and magazines, with her final series, Flossy Frills Helps Out, published posthumously in 1942. [3]

Personal life

In 1918, at age 55, Wells married Hadwin Houghton (1855-1919), a distant cousin of Houghton Mifflin founder Henry Oscar Houghton and a successful executive at Valentine & Company. [5] [3] Hadwin died in 1919, followed by Wells's mother two weeks later. [3]

Wells was an avid book collector, amassing a renowned collection of Walt Whitman works, which she bequeathed to the Library of Congress upon her death. [5] [6]

She died on March 26, 1942, at the Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital in New York City. [1] [7] She suffered from a serious heart ailment in her later years. [7]

Legacy

Wells was one of the most successful female authors of her era, with best-selling mysteries and popular children's series like Patty Fairfield and Marjorie Maynard. [3] [5] Her puzzle-based plots foreshadowed aspects of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. [3]

Her work largely faded from prominence by the mid-20th century due to changing tastes and other factors. [3] In 2024, Rebecca Rego Barry published The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells, the first full-length biography. [3] [8] In 2025, the Library of Congress hosted a program on women book collectors featuring Wells and her Whitman collection. [9]

Bibliography

Adult fiction

Children's fiction

Nonfiction

Verse

Anthologies (as editor)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Carolyn Wells". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
  2. ↑ "Carolyn Wells". Academy of American Poets. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Barry, Rebecca Rego (2024). The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells: Investigations into a Forgotten Mystery Author. Post Hill Press. ISBN   978-1637588505.
  4. 1 2 3 "Carolyn Wells". EBSCO Research Starters. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Considering History: America's Forgotten Women Writers: Carolyn Wells". The Saturday Evening Post. 2024-01-24. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
  6. ↑ "WILL OF AUTHOR AIDS LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; Carolyn Wells Left Her Walt Whitman Collection to It". The New York Times. 1942-04-16. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
  7. 1 2 "CAROLYN WELLS, NOVELIST, DEAD; Noted for Mystery Stories and Nonsense Verse, Also for Children's Works". The New York Times. 1942-03-27. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
  8. ↑ "The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells". Washington Independent Review of Books. 2025-03-16. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
  9. ↑ "Carolyn Wells Celebrated in Library of Congress Program on Women Book Collectors". Fine Books & Collections. 2025-02-27. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
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