Carolyn Wells (June 18, 1862 - March 26, 1942) was an American author and poet who wrote more than 170 books. During the first ten years of her career, she concentrated on poetry, humour and children's books, but around 1910 she heard one of Anna Katharine 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 crime novels, more than 60 of which featured the detective Fleming Stone.