Wells (1862-1942) was a prolific American writer of adult and juvenile fiction, and a poet. She wrote a total of over 170 books, concentrating on poetry, humour and children's books during the first ten years of her career before turning to mystery novels for adult readers, including the Fleming Stone detective stories which numbered 61 in total. She was the author of several series for children, most notably the Patty Fairfield books of which there were 19 titles published between 1901-19. This is the third book in that series, first published in 1905.