Catherine M. Rae (1914–1999)

Catherine M. Rae was born in New York City and graduated from the Horace Mann School in 1931. She received a bachelor's degree from Barnard College in 1935. After 35 years, she began graduate studies and earned a master's degree in teaching from Manhattanville College in 1970, and a doctorate in English literature from the University of Denver in 1979 at age 65. Shortly after earning her PhD, Ms. Rae wrote her first book, Edith Wharton's New York Quartet, a work of literary criticism published in 1984. Her first attempt at fiction went unpublished after being rejected.

She then wrote Brownstone Facade, a historical mystery novel. It was published in 1988 when she was 73, and was followed by eight more, including Flight From Fifth Avenue and The Hidden Cove (1995) and Sunlight on a Broken Column (1997). Her books were frequently set against the backdrop of turn-of-the-20th-century New York City, and centered on a historical event such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. She lived in Guilford, Connecticut with her husband Gene and four children.