That Affair Next Door
Amelia Butterworth - Volume 1
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- 8,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
“That Affair Next Door” is a 1897 detective novel by Anne Katherine Green. The story revolves around a mysterious murder that has taken place in an otherwise unremarkable neighbourhood. The property next door to the murder scene is owned by the inquisitive Miss Butterworth, whose piqued curiosity leads to her becoming intrinsic to the solving of this horrific crime. The first instalment of Green's female detective series “The Amelia Butterworth Mysteries” and also number eight in the "Mr Gryce Series", “That Affair Next Door” is a riveting murder mystery not to be missed by fans and collectors of classic detective fiction. Contents include: “Miss Butterworth's Window”, “The Windings of a Labyrinth”, “The Girl in Gray”, and “The End of a Great Mystery”. Anna Katharine Green (1846–1935) was an American novelist and poet. Among the first writers of detective fiction in America, she is considered to be the “mother” of the genre for her legally-accurate and well-thought-out plots. Other notable works by this author include: “The Leavenworth Case” (1878), “A Strange Disappearance” (1880), and “The Sword of Damocles: A Story of New York Life” (1881). Read & Co. Classics is proudly republishing this vintage detective novel now in a brand new edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
First published in 1897, this cleverly plotted mystery from Greene (1846 1935) introduces Amelia Butterworth, an elderly spinster "of Colonial ancestry and no inconsiderable importance in the social world," who lives alone in Manhattan's exclusive Gramercy Park neighborhood. One night, she's awakened by the sound of a horse-drawn cab pulling up outside the mansion next door. A man and a woman alight and enter the house, which Miss Butterworth knows to be empty. Ten minutes later, the man leaves. She subsequently summons the police, who investigate and find the body of a woman lying crushed beneath "a fallen piece of furniture." Det. Ebenezer Gryce arrives, and the competition begins: who will solve the murder first? Much of the book's enjoyment stems from Miss Butterworth's spirited discussions with the 77-year-old Gryce and her seeming lack of self-awareness. She describes herself as "not an inquisitive woman" and having a "dignified deportment," while those around her see her as pushy and nosy. This inaugural volume in the Library of Congress Crime Classics series, featuring the first woman sleuth in a series, is a must for genre buffs. Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated the book's title.
