Myrtle Reed

Myrtle Reed/Mrs McCullough was an American author, the daughter of Elizabeth Armstrong Reed and the preacher Hiram von Reed. She sometimes wrote under the pseudonym of Olive Green. She was born in Chicago, where she graduated from the West Division High School. In 1906 she was married to James Sydney McCullough. She died of a drug overdose in Chicago, Illinois. Her works include: The Spinster Book (1901), Lavender and Old Lace (1902), The Shadow of Victory (1903), A Spinner in the Sun (1906), Flower of the Dusk (1908), Old Rose and Silver (1909), Master of the Vineyard (1910), Sonnets to a Lover (1910), A Weaver of Dreams (1911), The Myrtle Reed Yearbook (1911), The White Shield (1912), Threads of Grey and Gold (1913) and Happy Women (1913). She also published a series of cook books under the pseudonym of Olive Green, including: What to Have for Breakfast (1905), One Thousand Simple Soups (1907) and How to Cook Fish (1908).Myrtle was a diagnosed insomniac with prescribed sleeping drafts. She died August 17, 1911 of an overdose of sleeping powder taken with suicidal intent in her flat, called "Paradise Flat" at 5120 Kenmore Ave., Chicago, Illinois. The following day, her suicide letter, written to her maid, Annie Larsen, was published.