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The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells is the first biography of one of the �lost ladies� of detective fiction who wrote more than eighty mysteries and hundreds of other works between the 1890s and the 1940s. Carolyn Wells (1862�1942) excelled at writing country house and locked-room mysteries for a decade before Agatha Christie entered the scene. In the 1920s, when she was churning out three or more books annually, she was dubbed �about the biggest thing in mystery novels in the US.� On top of that, Wells wielded her pen in just about every literary genre, producing several immensely popular children�s books and young adult novels; beloved anthologies; and countless stories, prose, and poetry for magazines such as Thrilling Detective, Life, The Saturday Evening Post, Harper�s, and The New Yorker. All told, Wells wrote over 180 books. Some were adapted into silent films, and some became bestsellers. Yet a hundred years later, she has been all but erased from literary history. Why? How? This investigation takes us on a journey to Rahway, New Jersey, where Wells was born and is buried; to New York City�s Upper West Side, where she spent her final twenty-five years; to the Library of Congress, where Carolyn�s world-class collection of rare books now resides; and to many other public and private collections where exciting discoveries unfolded. Part biography and part sleuthing narrative, The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells recovers the life and work of a brilliant writer who was considered one of the funniest, most talented women of her time.