E. J. (Edith Janice) Craine

Edith Janice Craine was an American author born in Cleveland, Ohio, on November 3, 1881. Reference sources describe her as a bookkeeper as well as a writer, and note that she published many young adult books in the 1920s and 1930s.

She is best remembered for the Airplane Boys sequence, a run of aviation adventures that included The Air Mystery of Isle La Motte, Airplane Boys at Platinum River, Airplane Boys Discover the Secrets of Cuzco, and Airplane Boys in the Black Woods. Some of these books also appeared under alternate series titles and, in some editions, under the pseudonym M. Delmore Marquith.

Craine's catalog was broader than flying adventures alone. Surviving listings and library records also connect her with books such as The Grist Mill Ghost, The Mystery of Black Eagle Island, and the children's title The Lost Prince, showing a writer comfortable with mystery, light fantasy, and adventure for younger readers.