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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.".

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.

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

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 . . .

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.

This novella comes from A Difficult Problem, a collection of six mystery stories by pioneer crime novelist, Anna Katharine Green. The plot is a curious reworking of the Bluebeard legend - a naive young woman becomes fascinted with a reclusive neighbour, and is led into a relationship with him. However, the neighbour has a dreadful secret....

As winter settles in and The Whispering Pines country club house lies dormant, a mysterious sight disrupts the silence—smoke curling from the chimney just one day after it was locked up tight. Driven by curiosity and concern, the narrator ventures inside, only to stumble upon a heart-wrenching scene the sister of his beloved fiancée, the very woman he secretly adores, fleeing the house in tears. But the horror escalates when he ascends the stairs to uncover a chilling truth—the lifeless body of his betrothed awaits him in the shadows. (Introduction by Carolin)

On a night when darkness clung heavily to the world and an unsettling mist wrapped around every hill and valley, I found myself yearning for adventure. As a young and carefree wayfarer, I was driven by an insatiable desire to explore the unknown and seek my fortune. So when I spotted a flickering light piercing through the fog to my right, I felt compelled to follow it, hoping it would provide the shelter I so desperately needed. Little did I know that refuge is not always a safe haven, and this choice would lead me down a path filled with unexpected twists. But who can resist the allure of ...

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.

Originally published in 1897, That Affair Next Door is Anna Katherine Green’s eighth book featuring the series detective Ebenezer Gryce and the first to feature the society spinster, Amelia Butterworth. Many consider the nosy Miss Butterworth to be the precursor to Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple or Patricia Wentworth’s Miss Silver. The story is told from Miss Butterworth’s perspective as she relates the story of a murdered young woman and how she sets out to unravel the mystery.

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.

"Sometimes in the course of his experience, a detective, while engaged in ferreting out the mystery of one crime, runs inadvertently upon the clue to another. But rarely has this been done in a manner more unexpected or with attendant circumstances of greater interest than in the instance I am now about to relate.For some time the penetration of certain Washington officials had been baffled by the clever devices of a gang of counterfeiters who had inundated the western portion of Massachusetts with spurious Treasury notes. Some of the best talent of the Secret Service had been expended upon ...

In this well-plotted, character-driven mystery, Detective Gryce receives a cryptic message calling him to the scene of a “strange” crime. He soon finds that the adjective is correct, for in a quiet brownstone house in a respectable New York City neighborhood, he finds the body of a man brutally stabbed to death, yet lovingly laid out on the floor of his study. The only apparent witnesses are a deaf and dumb butler driven mad by the event, and a caged bird that sings out a vital but puzzling clue. Before he solves the crime, with the help of the redoubtable Miss Amelia Butterworth, Gryce ...

In a quiet seaside town in New England, the reclusive Agatha Webb and her servant are found dead. Agatha has had a number of children who died in infancy. Local residents are divided in their opinions of Agatha—some believe that she was complicit in the death, while others feel sympathy for her due to these tragic losses. Furthermore, a local man is being blackmailed by someone who believes that he is guilty of the murders. The case ends up in the capable hands of Detective Caleb Sweetwater.

Join Violet Strange, a sharp and resourceful petite detective, as she embarks on a thrilling quest to recover a crucial page that has mysteriously vanished from an important document. The stakes are high, with the futures of an eccentric misanthrope, a brilliant chemical scientist, and a newlywed couple hanging in the balance. As Violet unravels this enigma, she stumbles upon another mystery that stretches back many years, leading her down a captivating path of intrigue. (Summary by Bev J. Stevens)

On the evening of July 13, 1863, two men, Samuel White from Washington and Lemuel Phillips from Buffalo, each received a mysterious letter marked 'personal', which he destroyed after reading. The letters are a summons to visit New York to attend to some unknown business. The two men, now living lives of privilege and respectability, are linked by a nefarious deed committed twelve years earlier when they were prospectors struggling to survive. Has the moment arrived when the heavy hand of retribution will finally fall upon them?

This classic murder mystery uses elements that have since become very common in crime literature - an abandoned house, a fugitive figure fleeing from the scene, and a dead body. In the house at Whispering Pines, which is supposed to be closed, the narrator discovers a dead body. On closer inspection, and much to his horror, he discovers that the corpse is that of his fiance. The figure fleeing the scene appears to be that of her sister. Unfortunately, when the police arrive and find the narrator still in the house they suspect that he is the murderer....

As Rita Van Arsdale, a woman deeply in love, accepts the proposal of the charming Mr. Durand at a lavish high society event, she believes she has found her dream man. However, their romantic bliss is abruptly disrupted by the captivating Mrs. Fairbrother and her dazzling diamond that quickly becomes the talk of the party. As the evening progresses, a crime unfolds, and Mr. Durand is unexpectedly cast as the main suspect. Now, its up to Rita to navigate a web of unexpected twists, uncover hidden truths, and clear her fiances name. This tale of love, mystery, and intrigue is masterfully penned ...