McCue, Lillian de la Torre Bueno (1902–1993)
McCue, Lillian de la Torre Bueno (1902–1993)
American writer of historical mysteries. Name variations: (pseudonym) Lillian de la Torre. Born Lillian de la Torre Bueno in New York, NY, Mar 15, 1902; died in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Sept 13, 1993; graduate of New Rochelle College; Columbia, MA; Harvard-Radcliffe, MA; taught high school English; m. George McCue (English professor at Colorado College), 1932 (died 1984).
Describing herself as a histo-detector, used scholarly research to delve into old crimes and scandals, especially those in 18th-century Britain, and arrive at her own modern solutions; also took real people and events and wove them into fictionalized plots; dismissed 12 theories on the 1753 disappearance of Elizabeth Canning, a maidservant near the Tower of London, and offered her own in 1st book Elizabeth Is Missing or Truth Triumphant; followed with a similar book, Villainy Detected (1947); her most popular fiction comprised a series of short stories about Samuel Johnson and James Boswell under title Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector; was president of Mystery Writers of America.