Think of classic detectives and you immediately think of Sherlock Holmes but this story, written in 1878, predated him by a good ten years and was even a best-seller back then, not an unknown work. Ms Green is considered the mother of the detective novel and is renowned for being legally accurate. Agatha Christie agrees that she influenced her. According to Wikipedia, The Leavenworth Case: A Lawyer's Story, sparked a debate in the Pennsylvania Senate over whether the book could "really have been written by a woman." Snort. Some things never change.Her detective is Mr. Gryce and this is the first in his series. Mr. Gryce was a portly, comfortable personage with an eye that never pierced, that did not even rest on you. If it rested anywhere, it was always on some insignificant object in the vicinity, some vase, inkstand, book, or button. These things he would seem to take into his confidence, make the repositories of his conclusions; but as for you—you might as well be the steeple on Trinity Church, for all connection you ever appeared to have with him or his thoughts. The narrator is a lawyer, Mr Raymond. His client, the millionaire victim is found shot in the head at his desk; still dressed in his evening clothes and the library is locked. The house was locked up and nobody found him until morning or heard a shot. But Hannah, a housemaid, is missing and the gun in the Mr Leavenworth’s side table has been fired. And the key of the library door is also missing.The murdered man’s two nieces live in the house with him and are both beautiful but seem on bad terms with each other. Mary Leavenworth unnerves the narrator and the detective describes her as ‘queenly’. Eleanore Leavenworth, on the other hand, he is sympathetic to, mostly because the uncle has left everything to Mary - the prettier blonde one. The coroner is called and the inquiry is held immediately in the house with a jury of men rounded up from the street.But Eleanore has evidence against her: she learnt to shoot recently, she took a piece of paper from the desk (seen by another witness) and now it is missing, her handkerchief is found stained from cleaning a gun and then she tries to hide the key to the library in the coals of a fire. But she insists on her innocence and it is Mary who would inherit. To prove her innocence, she does the dramatic laying of hands on the corpse that I have seen in so many detective stories.Later, Raymond arranges a meeting between the cousins and overhears one of them say this portentous statement: “The same roof can never shelter us both after this. To‐morrow, you or I find another home.” But who said it?Eleanore maintains that she didn’t do it, but who can she be protecting? Raymond goes to Gryce and insists on accompanying him to clear her name. The detective agrees, but is one step ahead of him. He needs a gentleman to befriend a man that may be of interest to the case, Mr. Henry Clavering. He also reminds him to wait and see what the will provided. Mr Bryce is a big fan of avarice as a clear motive.Interestingly, Detective Gryce has an offsider that provides - shall we say - devious assistance for him and can get to the bottom of any problem, according to Gryce, so his nom deplume is a query symbol ‘?’ and he is known simply as Q. He even disguises himself as a female tramp.Raymond does a lot of the legwork but has a charming habit of behaving like a gentleman and taking people at their face (or class) value. The mystery is solved after they find missing documents, missing witnesses and work out how others are involved in the case.It was quite a good read and an intriguing mystery. I did have to keep remembering that some things that seemed like clichés were really not. I will probably check out Gryce and Q’s next adventure. They are all available on project Gutenberg or here on Goodreads as a ebook download.
My ratings mostly represent, simply how much I was entertained by a book. I am not a literary critic, nor do I aspire to be one. I just love to read!I read his book because I was invited to join a murder mystery book club. I would never have chosen this on my own. I'm not a stranger to classics or murder mysteries. I just don't think I would have found this on my own.I am glad I read it for its historical significance and contribution to it the genre. But I was NOT that entertained. I hated the beginning, mildly liked the middle and was disgusted by the ending.I listened to the Audible.com version of this, mostly while doing housework. Maybe I missed something. In fact, maybe I missed a lot! But there were absolutely no clues dropped to connect the murderer to the crime during the story. Pardon me, I'm just an ardent reader, not a qualified critic, but the killers motive seemed very weak and "tossed in" at the end. Yes, yes, he was in love, but we don't hear about it till the very end!When you find out who the killer is, it's great to be surprised, but it it shouldn't just come out of no where!Booooo!!!!
What do You think about The Leavenworth Case (2005)?
The Leavenworth Case, 1878, by Anna Katharine Greene.Born in Brooklyn, New York, Green had an early ambition to write romantic verse, and she corresponded with Ralph Waldo Emerson. When her poetry failed to gain recognition, she produced her first and best known novel, The Leavenworth Case (1878), praised by Wilkie Collins, and the hit of the year. She became a bestselling author, eventually publishing about 40 books.She is credited with shaping detective fiction into its classic form, and developing the series detective. Her main character was detective Ebenezer Gryce of the New York Metropolitan Police Force, but in three novels he is assisted by the nosy society spinster Amelia Butterworth, the prototype for Miss Marple, Miss Silver and other creations. She also invented the 'girl detective': in the character of Violet Strange, a debutante with a secret life as a sleuth.Green was in some ways a progressive woman for her time—succeeding in a genre dominated by male writers—but she did not approve of many of her feminist contemporaries, and she was opposed to women's suffrage.Green married the actor, and later designer and artist, Charles Rohlfs on November 25, 1884. Seven years her junior, Charles was made to give up acting by Anna's father before he could marry her. They had one daughter and two sons, Roland Rohlfs and Sterling Rohlfs, who were test pilots. Green died in Buffalo, New York, at the age of 88.
—ARNE BUE
This was a super-excellent mystery, and I am awed by its existence. Author Green wrote and published this nearly a decade before Sherlock Holmes entered the world, and many of the conventions of the genre are present in this book. Green also throws in diagrams, codes, and passages written from alternate perspectives, complete with a shift in the tone of the prose. I am amazed that this is the kind of "sensationalist" reading that the public could pick up in the late-19th century. People probably didn't know what hit them when this gem landed.
—Daniel
Although I'd heard of this book as possibly the first detective novel written by a woman, I was a long time getting around to reading it. So glad I did! It was one of the first best-selling American novels with good reason. I was a bit ambilvalent in the beginning as to whether or not I would go on to read more of her books, but as the story progressed it became harder and harder to put down, so yes, I hope to make time in the future for more of Green's books. There are about a dozen novels in the Ebenezer Gryce series.
—Dagny
