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

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 man is found dead in the study of his New York City house and Detective Gryce is called upon to deduce the how and why of his murder - if it is indeed a murder. With the assistance of Miss Amelia Butterworth, Gryce must investigate the meaning of the meager clues, including the cries of a talking bird, in order to uncover what happened to the victim. Solving this crime will involve several generations of two families. Author Anna Katharine Green was often referred to as "the mother of the detective novel" and was an early influence on Agatha Christie.

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.

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?

Credited by many as the mother of the detective novel, Anna Katharine Green published her first mystery novel - The Leavenworth Case - in 1878, almost a decade before Sherlock Holmes made his appearance. Green's intrepid Ebenezer Gryce, a seasoned New York detective, takes up the case of a brutally murdered millionaire philanthropist. One of the murdered man's two nieces is set to inherit an immense fortune, and she and her cousin are high on the suspect list.

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.".

"Horatio Leavenworth, Esq., a millionaire, is murdered in his library while he is engaged in reviewing a book he plans to publish. He was shot cleanly in the back of the head (with his own pistol), meaning that he did not turn his head when his assassin entered the room. This fact led detective Ebenezer Gryce to conclude that he recognized the footsteps of his assailant and felt he had nothing to fear from this person." Thus begins this first novel in the "Mr. Gryce" series.

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 reward of five thousand dollars is offered, by Phil Ocumpaugh, to whoever will give such information as will lead to the recovery, alive or dead, of his six year old daughter, Gwendolen, missing since the afternoon of August the 16th, from her home in New York. 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.

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.

During a high society party set in New York City in the early 1900s, a beautiful woman is murdered and her precious diamond stolen. A young woman attending the party had just accepted a marriage proposal from a handsome young man. Unfortunately, the young man is the prime suspect in the murder due to circumstantial evidence. From there, the story takes many twists and turns before the identity of the killer is finally revealed.

Violet Strange is no ordinary well-to-do young New York City debutante. Unbeknownst to family and society friends, she leads a secret life as a professional sleuth for a private detective agency. On a mission to raise money for an undisclosed project, the determined and gutsy young debutante diligently snoops around sleepwalking widows, violent and sinister characters, whispering clocks and concealed tombs, connecting clues to solve tales of murder, mystery and intrigue.

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 . . .

Horatio Leavenworth is a New York merchant whose material wealth is matched by his eminence in the community and reputation for good works.

Agatha Webb and her cook are found dead in the early hours of the morning after a successful party, and it seems just about anyone could be the killer. Some suspect her aging husband; others think it a robbery gone too far. A few nosy villagers draw a connection between this murder and the deaths of her six children so many years prior: Was she truly a victim, a grieving mother? Or did she play some role in these deaths? The list of suspects grows when a certain wealthy townsmen is blackmailed by someone who believes he murdered Agatha Webb and her cook.

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.

An abandoned inn, a crime that took 16 years to be discovered, a generational story of love and betrayal all await the listener in this rendition of Anna Katharine Green’s The Forsaken Inn. A bride arrives on her wedding night and leaves the next day...or did she? Sixteen years later her long-deceased corpse is found at the inn and the unraveling of the mystery of her death begins.

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.

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.