According to Wikipedia: "Carolyn Wells (June 18, 1862-March 26, 1942) was an American author and poet ... She had been married to Hadwin Houghton, the heir of the Houghton-Mifflin publishing empire founded by Bernard Houghton... Carolyn Wells wrote a total of more than 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), around 1910 she heard one of Anna Katherine Green's mystery novels being read aloud and was immediately captivated by the unravelling 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. Today, however, she is best known for her light verse, particularly for several classic limericks.."