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{{
{{Infobox person
| name = Carolyn Wells
| image = Picture of Carolyn Wells.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth date|1862|06|18|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Rahway, New Jersey]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1942|03|26|1862|06|18|df=y}}
| death_place = [[New York City]], U.S.
| occupation = [[Author]]
| spouse = Hadwin Houghton
}}
'''Carolyn Wells''' (June 18, 1862 — March 26, 1942) was an American mystery author.
== Life and career ==
Born in [[Rahway, New Jersey]], she was the daughter of William
After finishing school, she worked as a [[librarian]] for the Rahway Library Association. Her first book, ''At the Sign of the Sphinx'' (1896), was a collection of
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]]'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]]. Many additional series ensued over the years, including the bizarre classic ''Adventures of Lovely Lilly'' ([[New York Herald]], 1906–07). The last series she penned was ''Flossy Frills Helps Out'' ([[American Weekly]], 1942), which appeared after her death.
In 1918 then aged 55, she married Hadwin Houghton (1855-1919). Although it sounds both plausible and romantic, he was not a direct descendent of [[Henry Oscar Houghton|H.O. Houghton]], a founder of the [[Houghton-Mifflin]] publishing empire. However, Houghton was a distant cousin and his father, Moses Barnard Houghton<ref>{{cite web |title=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/686779215/?terms=brooklyn%20daily%20eagle&match=1 |website=Brooklyn Newstand |access-date=1 March 2024 |pages=Page 7 |date=Apr 3, 1918}}</ref> was a senior member of the firm.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-eagle/9815046/ |website=Newspapers.com |access-date=1 March 2024 |pages=Page 5 |date=Apr 3, 1918}}</ref> Houghton was a very successful employee of Valentine & Company, a varnish and paint company now known as [[Valspar]]. He died in 1919 and her mother died two weeks after.
She died at the [[Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital]] in New York City in 1942.▼
▲
Rahway Cemetery in Rahway, NJ with her husband, parents, and two siblings.
Wells
In 2024, the first-ever biography of Wells, Rebecca Rego Barry's ''The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells'', was published.
▲Wells had been married to Hadwin Houghton, the heir of the [[Houghton-Mifflin]] 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]] poetry, said to be one of the most important of its kind for its completeness and rarity, to the [[Library of Congress]].{{inc-lit|date=October 2021}}
===Adult fiction===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
Before 1900
* ''
* ''
* ''
;Fleming Stone mysteries
* ''The Clue'' (
* ''The Gold Bag'' (1911). First published Lippincott's Magazine, February 1910.
* ''A Chain of Evidence'' (1912)
* ''The Maxwell Mystery'' (1913)
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# ''Patty-Bride'' (1918)
# ''Patty and Azalea'' (1919)
# ''How to Tell a
;Marjorie Maynard
# ''Marjorie{{'s}} Vacation'' (1907)
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* ''Folly in Fairyland'' (1901)
* ''In the Reign of Queen Dick'' (1904)
* ''Dick and Dolly'' (1909)
* ''Dick and Dolly{{'s}} Adventures'' (1910)
* ''The Story of Betty'' (1911)
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==External links==
* {{Find a Grave|7092936}}
* {{Commonscatinline}}
* {{wikisource-inline}}
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[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American poets]]▼
[[Category:American children's writers]]
[[Category:American humorous poets]]
[[Category:American mystery writers]]
[[Category:American women children's writers]]
[[Category:American women novelists]]
[[Category:American women poets]]
▲[[Category:American mystery writers]]
▲[[Category:American children's writers]]
[[Category:Novelists from New Jersey]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:
▲[[Category:20th-century American poets]]
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