Anna Katharine Green

The Circular Study By Anna Katharine Green

A young girl frantically summons a gentleman walking by on the street to come in and help her grandfather. Arthur Outhwaite answers her cry for help only to find himself as the last person to see her grandfather alive and left with the admonishment from the dying man to deliver a letter to someone, and to that person only. Unfortunately, he dies before he can inform Outhwaite who that particular person is. Being in a house of strangers, Outhwaite is thrust into the mystery of not only finding this unknown person, but is also faced with the mysterious circumstances under which the child's grandfather died.

The Millionaire Baby By Anna Katharine Green

The hour of noon had just struck, and the few visitors still lingering among the curiosities of the great museum were suddenly startled by the sight of one of the attendants running down the broad, central staircase, loudly shouting: "Close the doors Let no one out An accident has occurred, and nobody's to leave the building." There was but one person near either of the doors, and as he chanced to be a man closely connected with the museum, -being, in fact, one of its most active directors, -he immediately turned about and in obedience to a gesture made by the attendant, ran up the marble steps, followed by some dozen others. At the top they all turned, as by common consent, toward the left-hand gallery, where in the section marked II, a tableau greeted them which few of them will ever forget. I say "tableau" because the few persons concerned in it stood as in a picture, absolutely motionless and silent as the dead.

X Y Z: A Detective Story By Anna Katharine Green

It is a story to be read with a rush, for no one can put it down until he has found the heart of the mystery. For originality of detail and cleverness of development this book is really unusual. This is something more than a mere detective story; it is a thrilling romance--a romance of mystery and crime where a shrewd detective helps to solve the mystery.

"Talking of sudden disappearances the one you mention of Hannah in that Leavenworth case of ours, is not the only remarkable one which has come under my direct notice. Indeed, I know of another that in some respects, at least, surpasses that in points of interest, and if you will promise not to inquire into the real names of the parties concerned, as the affair is a secret, I will relate you my experience regarding it." The speaker was Q, the rising young detective, universally acknowledged by us of the force as the most astute man for mysterious and unprecedented cases, then in the bureau, always and of course excepting Mr. Gryce; and such a statement from him could not but arouse our deepest curiosity.

A daring debutante solves the crimes of upper-crust Manhattan in this groundbreaking story collection from the queen of American mystery Violet Strange has a secret. A vivacious socialite, she is one of the most sought-after women in New York-as a private investigator. Between well-heeled excursions to the opera and fabulous dinner parties, Violet uses her lively charms to investigate the dark side of Gilded Age society. From the daughter of an important businessman accused of theft on a grand scale, to the suspected murder-suicide of the husband and child of a society woman, to the lost will of a financier whose death greatly affected the money market, Violet expertly sleuths out hidden clues, all the while protecting her secret identity. But the greatest puzzle of all may be what compels Miss Strange to undertake this outlandish work in the first place, and what it may afford-or cost-her in the end. Originally published in 1915, The Golden Slipper is the debut entry in the Violet Strange series, often credited as first in the famed "girl detectives" mystery genre.

In a small New York town, the local legal professionals are discussing the nature of crime. Breaking the law, they conclude, does not pay in modern society, as the criminal will undoubtedly be caught. A mysterious hunchbacked stranger approaches the group to interject. "The smart ones don't make tracks," he says before disappearing. Meanwhile, just out of earshot, a woman has been murdered. Mrs. Clemmens was attacked in her home and there is no sign of the killer. As the case unfolds, several plausible suspects present themselves. But who actually committed the crime? And what should be made of the mysterious stranger who had such confidence in the abilities of the seasoned outlaw?

A detective story first published in 1911, "Initials Only" deals with the case of beautiful young heiress Edith Challoner dropping dead in the writing room of a luxury hotel while nobody is near her, and no shot is heard and no bullet found in the deadly wound. Did she take her own life by stabbing herself through the heart with a paper knife, later found on the floor in the hotel lobby (but with no traces of blood on it)? Her grieving father refuses to believe the coroner's verdict of suicide, and employs an investigator who is actually part of the police force but acts on his own for most of the time. Among Miss Challoner's personal belongings are found letters signed with initials only, O. B. Who is O. B., and what - if anything - does he have to do with her death? Sweetwater, the investigator, finds out the identity of O. B. pretty soon, but instead of answering the questions the case poses, he only brings up more mysteries.

Delight Hunter spends her days looking out of her window at her handsome but very mysterious and reclusive next door neighbor. She walks straight into a mystery when one day a fire starts in one of the upper rooms of his house and she dashes over to warn him, only to have him lock her in with instructions to let no one else in. Why is he so insistent that no one come in? What secrets are hidden within the walls of this house?

A vanishing bride, not one but two siblings rise from the grave, a young woman kidnapped as a child returns home. This relates with the thriller mystery collection of the author. Anna Katharine Green Rohlfs (1846-1935) wrote detective fiction and was instrumental in helping shape the genre into its current form by introducing a series detective with an amateur sidekick, as well as a young girl detective. She was one of a handful of women writing detective stories at the time.

A Strange Disappearance By Anna Katharine Green

The country club house The Whispering Pines was closed for the winter, but only one day after he locked the place personally, the narrator sees smoke come out of the chimney. He decides to investigate and enters the house. Hidden in the dark, he sees the sister of his fiance, the girl he secretly loves, run out of the house with tears in her eyes. Upstairs then, he discovers the dead body of his betrothed...

The Mayor is running for Governor and his wife is troubled about something but he doesn't know what. He hires a companion for her, and asks the companion to help him get to the bottom of it.

An old and dilapidated inn in upstate New York provides the setting for this gothic mystery involving two couples in eighteenth-century Revolutionary America. Told through the diary entries of an innkeeper named Mrs. Truax, this chilling tale concerns Edwin Urquhart, who arrives with his bride at the Forsaken Inn for their honeymoon. The very next day, the couple leaves-but something has transpired during the night, a mystery that won't be solved until many years later.

The Golden Slipper is a collection of nine mysteries solved by Violet Strange, a young sleuth. Perfect for Nancy Drew fans, Violet Strange is a strong girl who can always figure out the truth.

The story involves the murder of a young woman in a very public location. The physical method employed is a major part of the mystery as no one was close enough to inflict the fatal wound. There was no exit wound, no bullet and no arrow found.

One of detective fiction master Anna Katharine Green's earlier novels, The Sword of Damocles combines a budding romance set against the backdrop of New York City's hustle and bustle with a beguiling mystery. Green's best-known creation, master detective Ebenezer Gryce, makes a cameo appearance on the scene.