Library to host Carolyn Wells Biographer
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. What ever happened to the story and legacy of Carolyn Wells? Why did the name of this highly accomplished writer of mystery novels become lost In time? How is she viewed by the critics of today?
These questions and more will be the topic of discussion on Wednesday, March 13, with a visit from Rebecca Rego Barry, author of The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells: Investigations into a Forgotten Mystery Author. City Historian & Rahway Library Research Consultant Al Shipley writes that during Wells’ lifetime, she “was hailed as “America’s Most Famous Mystery Writer,” and was considered the authority on that particular genre.”
Rebecca Rego Barry is an established writer and editor who lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her articles and essays about books, history, and collectibles have appeared in Financial Times, Literary Hub, CrimeReads, Atlas Obscura, Lapham’s Quarterly, Smithsonian Magazine, The Guardian, The Public Domain Review, Fine Books Magazine, and elsewhere. Ms. Barry has made several trips to the Rahway Public Library during her research with City Historian Al Shipley using the materials stored in the Rahway History Room.
The program will begin at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 13. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.
