Showing results by author "Anna Katharine Green" in All Categories

Rita Van Arsdale, a member of the high society in New York, is invited to an elegant party where she falls in love with a gentleman called Mr. Durand, who returns her feelings and proposes to her. But their plans are derailed after Mrs. Fairbrother, who has arrived at the party wearing a spectacular diamond, is discovered murdered in an alcove. The prime suspect is none other than Mr. Durand, so Miss Van Arsdale gets down to work to reconstruct the true course of events and prove that her love is indeed innocent.

This novella comes from A Difficult Problem, a collection of six mystery stories by pioneer crime novelist, Anna Katharine Green. The plot is a curious reworking of the Bluebeard legend - a naive young woman becomes fascinted with a reclusive neighbour, and is led into a relationship with him. However, the neighbour has a dreadful secret....

One of my Sons, published in 1901, is a classic whodunit tale of murder and mystery. Set in New York, a murder of a multi-billionaire brings about the recurring question "Which?", referring to which of his sons committed this despicable act of parricide. Green keeps her audience on the edge of its seat with this heart wrenching tale of family woes, love, and a bit of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson mystery. The question of "Which?" carries on to the end of the story, through exciting and surprising twists and turns no one ever sees coming.

On the evening before his marriage, Sinclair loses a precious curiosity from his collection: an amethyst box, containing a tiny flask of deadly poison. He suspects that this poison is in the possession of either his betrothed or her cousin, the girl his best friend Worthington loves. Turning to Worthington for help, they try to recover the box before the poison can be administered.

First published in 1883, this new Cyanide Publishing edition contains the original text as well as background articles including "Anna Katherine Green - the Mother of the Detective Novel", "Anna Katherine Green - a Bibliography", "Women in Crime Fiction", and "X.Y.Z.".

An artist, Mr Ruxton, is seeking an ideal model for a planned sculpture of Antigone. He travels to the Beech Grove estate in search of his model and encounters Miss Hurd, who is employed at the house. He is overwhelmed by her beauty and feels compelled to pursue her. However, he quickly finds that he has a rival for the lady's affections, a man of great wealth and power. Miss Hurd takes flight, but Ruxton is unable to forget her. When he later sees her again on a streetcar in New York he finds himself drawn into a mysterious web of tragedy and evil.

In "The House in the Mist", weary traveler Hugh Austin arrives, seeking food and lodging for the night. "Enter, sir; you are the first to arrive, but the others cannot be far behind", he is told. "What others?" he wonders, gazing at a stern portrait hanging on the wall. He finds he has chanced upon the gathering of friends and relatives of the man in the portrait. An inheritance is to be divided, all concerned must be present by the appointed hour.

A husband’s untimely death is foretold by a newspaper clipping found in his young wife’s bedroom the day before his death. The wife enlists a detective to help solve the puzzle only to find the killer is much closer than she ever imagined. Written by the first female writer of detective fiction in America, this short thriller in two parts showcases the remarkable mind of Anna Katharine Green. Green is widely considered the “mother of the detective novel” and was a contemporary influence on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.

These two novellas by seminal crime novelist Anna Katharine Green were first published in 1887. In 7 to 12, the theft of a valuable diamond necklace is reported to the police. Investigation reveals that the circumstances of the crime are not as they first appear as the dark secrets of a wealthy family come to light. One Hour More describes the desperate plight of a female refugee in Paris as she awaits a long-expected reunion with her lover.

A plan for a daring robbery is hatched between a professional criminal and an unscrupulous office manager. One person in particular has to be drawn into this nefarious scheme - the business owner's personal assistant, the young and attractive Grace Lee. Will she have the pluck and resourcefulness to deal effectively with this perilous situation?

In The Amethyst Box, a vial of incredibly potent poison goes missing on the eve of a wedding. The groom and the best man set out to find it and prevent its misuse. A man's unexpected but natural death in a hotel become more and more mysterious when we learn his obituary was printed before he died. In "The Ruby and the Cauldron", a precious gem is lost then found then lost again...finding it will save one woman from shame but will condemn another.

Five stories to thrill and mystify you. Was there a murder in Room Number 3, or is it only the delusion of a crazy woman? The cold hand of vengeance reaches far beyond the grave when a road weary traveler stumbles into a life-changing and potentially deadly dinner dinner part at "The House in the Mist". Held captive by a highwayman, a timid young wife must use her wits to survive, but in "Midnight on Beauchamp Row", not even the highwayman could have expected the intruder who would prove far more deadly.

Voices of Today presents two stories by Anna Katharine Green, the great American mystery writer who published before Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. In "To the Minute", a man returns to his native village after many years absence, after being advised of the death of his misanthropic grandfather. Will the dead miser's decaying mansion contain the secret to his lost wealth? In "Scarlet and Black", a man returns home to find mysterious foreigners playing cards in his house and cannot rest until he finds out the reason for this unexpected visitation and what the stakes are.

A who-done-it mystery from Anna Katharine Green written in 1917 begins immediately with a murder by Native American arrow within a museum. Who is the young girl who is murdered, and why is she alone? No one knows. Who is the woman right next to her? Ms. Green develops her story and characters, and the intrigue builds. Is the murderer a man or woman?

The dead body of a woman was found under a large cabinet. But she had been dead four hours before the cabinet fell upon her. The owners of the house had been on vacation and the place empty. Who was she and why was she in the empty house all alone? Anna Katharine Green was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories. She is credited with shaping detective fiction into its classic form, and developing the series detective.

A young typist drinks poison substituted for the medicine left for her by the nurse. The patient insists she was not trying to commit suicide, the nurse asserts her innocence: but no-one else could have got into the room and tampered with the glass . . .

The two major characters in this crime novel are Doctor Izard, a reclusive and unconventional physician, and Polly Earle, a beautiful young woman who has been raised by her adoptive parents. Polly is engaged to be married and appears to be set for a happy and secure future. However, the unexplained death of her birth mother and the subsequent disappearance of her father, continue to cast a shadow over Polly's life. When a murder occurs on Doctor Izard's estate the characters are drawn into a complex web of mystery from which life-changing secrets emerge.

Anna Katharine Green was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 11th, 1846. Anna’s initial ambition was to be a poet. However that path failed to ignite any significant interest and she turned to fiction writing. She published her first―and most famous work in 1878―‘The Leavenworth Case’. Wilkie Collins praised it and it sold extremely well. Anna Katharine Green died on April 11, 1935 in Buffalo, New York, at the age of 88.

"Sometimes in the course of his experience, a detective, while engaged in ferreting out the mystery of one crime, runs inadvertently upon the clue to another. But rarely has this been done in a manner more unexpected or with attendant circumstances of greater interest than in the instance I am now about to relate.For some time the penetration of certain Washington officials had been baffled by the clever devices of a gang of counterfeiters who had inundated the western portion of Massachusetts with spurious Treasury notes. Some of the best talent of the Secret Service had been expended upon ...

In this well-plotted, character-driven mystery, Detective Gryce receives a cryptic message calling him to the scene of a “strange” crime. He soon finds that the adjective is correct, for in a quiet brownstone house in a respectable New York City neighborhood, he finds the body of a man brutally stabbed to death, yet lovingly laid out on the floor of his study. The only apparent witnesses are a deaf and dumb butler driven mad by the event, and a caged bird that sings out a vital but puzzling clue. Before he solves the crime, with the help of the redoubtable Miss Amelia Butterworth, Gryce ...