Facts: - death place: brazil - birth name: buell halvor quain - death cause: suicide - death date: 2 august 1939 - occupation: ethnologist - birth date: 31 may 1912 - name: buell quain - nationality: usa american - birth place: bismarck , north dakota , usa - alma mater: columbia university Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of buell quain .
The answer to this question is:
buell halvor quain -lrb- may 31 , 1912 -- august 2 , 1939 -rrb- was an american ethnologist who , after graduating from columbia university , worked with native peoples in fiji and brazil .he published a total of four books , three of them posthumously .the mystery surrounding his death by suicide was the subject of brazilian author bernardo carvalho 's 2002 novel '' nine nights '' .