That Affair Next Door and Lost Man's LaneAnna Katharine Green was the most famous and prolific writer of detective fiction in the United States prior to Dashiell Hammett. Her first novel, The Leavenworth Case, was the bestseller of 1878. Green is credited with a number of “firsts” within the mystery genre, including the gentleman murdered as he makes out his will and the icicle as murder weapon. She created the first female detectives in American fiction. Her amateur spinster sleuth, Amelia Butterworth, became the prototype for numerous women detectives to follow, including Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. Nosy, opinionated, and tenacious, Amelia Butterworth engages in a sustained rivalry with Ebenezer Gryce, a police detective. In the interaction between these characters, Green developed two more conventions adopted by future generations of mystery writers: the investigation as battle between the sexes and between the professional and the unexpectedly sharp, observant amateur. This volume presents two of Green’s Amelia Butterworth tales: That Affair Next Door (1897) and Lost Man’s Lane (1898). |
Contents
MISS BUTTERWORTHS WINDOW | 15 |
Questions | 22 |
Amelia Discovers Herself | 27 |
Silas Van Burnam | 34 |
This Is No One I Know | 37 |
New Facts | 42 |
Mr Gryce Discovers Miss Amelia | 44 |
The Misses Van Burnam | 52 |
THE KNOLLYS FAMILY | 251 |
I Am Tempted | 252 |
I Succumb | 260 |
A Ghostly Interior | 268 |
A Strange Household | 272 |
A Sombre Evening | 276 |
The First Night | 278 |
On the Stairs | 282 |
Developments | 58 |
Important Evidence | 64 |
The Order Clerk | 70 |
The Keys | 79 |
Howard Van Burnam | 86 |
A Serious Admission | 95 |
A Reluctant Witness | 103 |
THE WINDINGS OF A LABYRINTH | 109 |
Butterworth Versus Gryce | 112 |
The Little Pincushion | 116 |
A Decided Step Forward | 122 |
Miss Butterworths Theory | 130 |
A Shrewd Conjecture | 134 |
A Blank Card | 139 |
Ruth Oliver | 146 |
A House of Cards | 155 |
The Rings Where Are the Rings? | 161 |
A Tilt with Mr Gryce | 164 |
Found | 167 |
Taken Aback | 170 |
THE GIRL IN GRAY | 173 |
The Matter as Stated by Mr Gryce | 178 |
Some Fine Work | 185 |
Iconoclasm | 194 |
Known Known All Known | 199 |
Exactly HalfPast Three | 204 |
A Ruse | 207 |
THE END OF A GREAT MYSTERY | 211 |
Two Weeks | 213 |
A White Satin Gown | 216 |
The Watchful Eye | 220 |
As the Clock Struck | 224 |
Secret History | 226 |
With Miss Butterworths Compliments | 241 |
A New Acquaintance | 285 |
Secret Instructions | 290 |
Men Women and Ghosts | 294 |
The Phantom Coach | 301 |
Gossip | 306 |
I Forget My Age Or Rather Remember It | 310 |
THE FLOWER PARLOR | 317 |
Loreen | 320 |
The Flower Parlor | 325 |
The Second Night | 331 |
A Knot of Crape | 338 |
Questions | 341 |
Mother Jane | 344 |
The Third Night | 348 |
FORWARD AND BACK | 355 |
The Enigma of Numbers | 361 |
Trifles But Not Trifling | 367 |
A Point Gained | 369 |
The Text Witnesseth | 373 |
An Intrusion | 375 |
In the Cellar | 377 |
Investigation | 380 |
Strategy | 382 |
Relief | 388 |
THE BIRDS OF THE AIR | 391 |
Conditions | 401 |
The Dove | 402 |
An Hour of Startling Experiences | 406 |
I Astonish Mr Gryce and He Astonishes Me | 417 |
A Few Words | 420 |
Under A Crimson Sky | 422 |
Explanations | 429 |
EPILOGUE | 434 |
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Common terms and phrases
Amelia Butterworth Anna Katharine Green answer asked astonishment began brother carriage CHARLES ROHLFS coach consider Coroner cried crime Deacon Spear Desberger detective detective fiction door doubt dreadful dress entered evidently expected eyes face fact father fear feel felt Flower Parlor Franklin Van Burnam gave gentleman girl glance Gramercy Park Gryce hand head heard Howard Van Burnam interest James Pope knew Knollys family lady Lena look Loreen Lost Man's Lane Lucetta ma'am madam matter mind minutes Miss Althorpe Miss Butterworth Miss Knollys Miss Oliver morning Mother Jane murder mystery never night once passed perhaps person police present reason remarked reply rings Saracen secret seemed seen showed sight Simsbury smile sorbed stood stopped surprise suspicion talk tell thing thought took Trohm turned wife William window wish witness woman words young
Popular passages
Page 3 - I felt a sensation of sickness which in another moment might have ended in my fainting also, if I had not realized that it would never do for me to lose my wits in the presence of a man who had none too many of his own.
Page 7 - ... saw, even while we all bounded forward to the rescue of the devoted maiden, that he was one of those maniacs who have perfect control over themselves and pass for very decent sort of men except in the moment of triumph; and, noting his look of sinister delight, perceived that half his pleasures and almost his sole reward for the horrible crimes he had perpetrated, was in the mystery surrounding his victims and the entire immunity from suspicion which up to this time he had enjoyed.