Carolyn Wells (1862-1942) was an American author and poet. She wrote more than 170 books. During the first ten years of her career, she concentrated on poetry, humor, and children's books. After 1910, she devoted herself to the mystery genre.

Carolyn Wells (1862-1942) was an American author and poet. She wrote more than 170 books. During the first ten years of her career, she concentrated on poetry, humor, and children's books. After 1910, she devoted herself to the mystery genre.

From mystery maven Carolyn Wells, the author of The Clue, comes another classic cozy locked-room whodunit. The set-up is vintage Wells: Guests gather at Maxwell Chimneys, the stately home of Alexander Maxwell, for a weekend of picnics and charades. During a dance party, Alexander's nephew Philip Maxwell is murdered. The murder weapon is quickly located in the hand of an unconscious woman lying next to the corpse, who has been shot in the shoulder. A local detective is hired and is aided in his investigation by one of the guests. Everyone is a suspect and the clues shift to implicate one guest and then another. Ultimately, the amateur sleuths call in the famous detective Fleming Stone to solve the pieces of the puzzle. The Maxwell Mystery marks the debut of Detective Fleming Stone.

Millionaire Sanford Embury is found dead in bed, alone, with the door of his second-story bedroom bolted shut from the inside. He was known to be a controlling husband, refusing to give his pretty young wife an allowance of cash or her own checking account. Was his wife a party to the murder, or perhaps did she commit the murder in a fit of rage? Who else had a motive? And how does a clue of raspberry jam point to the killer? Curl up with the classic cozy locked-room mystery from the author of The Clue.