G. W. Peters

Green

Anna Katharine Green

This Elibron Classics title is a reprint of the original edition published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in New York and London, 1906. This book contains color illustrations.

A Lawyer's Story

The Leavenworth Case

Colleen

3 Stars

*A genre-defining mystery that hasn’t aged well*


As I worked my way through various classic Mystery novels, I came across the name Anna Katharine Green. It turns out that she was a successful Mystery novelist. Not only was she a best-selling author and one of the first female Mystery writers, she was one of the first Mystery writers AT ALL. That’s right; this book was a best seller a decade before Arthur Conan Doyle published his first Sherlock Holmes story! The great Agatha Christie listed Green as a major influence to her writing. And having read The Leavenworth Case, it is clear that Green’s influence reached many writers and the genre as a whole.


  “It is not for me to suspect but to detect.”

Although the story is a bit rough around the edges, it is clear to see how this book has many elements that became hallmarks of detective fiction including the locked room mystery, the death in a grand house, the amateur sleuth, the red herrings, the framework of accurate (for the time) criminal law, and the use of deductive reasoning to reach a conclusion beyond the sight of the other characters involved. And these are things that usually get attributed to Doyle. It was surprising to learn that for years I’ve been giving Doyle far too much credit for laying the foundational work of the genre. Oh, certainly Doyle still had a profound impact on the genre and created one of the greatest and best known literary characters. But he was already building on the work of others. And Anna Katharine Green deserves far more credit and recognition than she gets.


  “You must never, in reckoning up an affair of murder like this, forget who it is that most profits by the deceased man's death.”

As an interesting side note, this story particularly in the beginning, reminded me of the Lizzie Borden case. They both have a father figure cold-bloodedly murdered with the daughter/niece in the house and claiming to have seen nothing, a disputed inheritance, and a similar time period – followed by a lot of circumstantial evidence and clash between the likely possibility of a young, genteel woman being a murder and the society dissonance of accepting said young, genteel woman being capable of such violence. (See The Trial of Lizzie Borden for more details.) Of course, The Leavenworth Case was published in 1878, and the Borden murders did not occur until 1892. It isn’t as if Green ripped her story from the day’s headlines. And the cases veer from each other upon closer examination. But the start of the story gave me deja vu. 

So why has Green’s work fallen off the modern radar? Well, she experienced more than her share of criticism, and most of it seemed to be because she was a woman. When The Leavenworth Case first hit it big, people kept asking if something so good could really have been written by a woman. It was supposedly even debated in the Pennsylvania State Senate if a woman could really have written it. As the years went by and Green’s career continued, the criticism towards her work became more and more harsh. Many (male) writers including T.S. Elliot, Arthur Bennett, and Raymond Chandler all actively demeaned Green’s work.

Admittedly, the story is quite dated now. Few books maintain easy readability a century and a half later. And yes, the characters are melodramatic. But then again, that Gothic melodrama was hugely popular at the time. I had more issue with the story being almost entirely composed of dialogue. That did cause the pace of the story to be slow. And yes, the female characters were the stereotypical dramatic, hysterical, delicate dolls that society idealized at the time. Again, it clearly played to the audience of the time – even if I do prefer my heroines to have way more agency, gumption, and common sense.

It’s tough to say what my overall verdict is. The plot was interesting enough, but it was weighed down by the dramatic circumlocution. And as I mentioned, the story hasn’t aged well. But I am absolutely glad that I read it and can now give proper credit where credit is due. And despite its flaws, I would recommend it to anyone wanting a clear picture of how Whodunits came to be.

 
RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 2 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 4 Stars

Monica

This novel has had a great influence in the detective genre as a whole... and I didn't know of its existence! Praised by Wilkie Collins - a favorite of mine -, quoted by Agatha Christie as an influence in her own fiction, published before Sherlock Holmes. Green became the "mother of detective fiction" in a world dominated by male writers. This novel, one of the first - if not the first - of its kind to be set in America, still has that taste of Victorian narrative. The story is simple but very engaging. I couldn't put it down! Although it is not perfect, if you want to immerse yourself in a well-written detective fiction without feeling cheated at the end, this is your novel.

The Leavenworth Case A Lawyer's Story

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