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INCLUDES PDF OF BOOK! Published nine years before Sherlock's first appearance, this debut novel by the Mother of American Detective Fiction would be credited as changing the mystery genre forever. The Leavenworth Case's dynamic prose and intriguing characters-especially the introduction of Detective Gryce, the first recurring American detective in fiction-would set the stage for all mystery novels written thereafter. Agatha Christie would credit it as one of the books that encouraged her to try her hand at writing mystery in the first place. This edition includes an engaging introduction by Patricia Meredith, author of A Deed of Dreadful Note, the first historical fiction mystery featuring Anna Katharine Green, centering on the events that would lead to her writing of this, her debut novel, an effort that would take six years beginning in 1872, ending with its publication in 1878. "The Leavenworth Case is admirable. One savors its atmosphere, its studied and deliberate melodrama. Those rich and lavish descriptions of the golden beauty of Eleanor, the moonlight beauty of Mary!� and there is the maidservant, Hannah, so true to type, and the murderer, an excellent psychological study." -Hercule Poirot in The Clocks (1963) by Agatha Christie "Have I read The Leavenworth Case? I have read it through at one sitting. Her powers of invention are so remarkable-she has so much imagination and so much belief (a most important qualification for our art) in what she writes, that I have nothing to report of myself, so far, but most sincere admiration.� Dozens of times in reading the story I have stopped to admire the fertility of invention, the delicate treatment of incidents-and the fine perception of the influence of events on the personages of the story." -Wilkie Collins, author of The Woman in White and The Moonstone.… (more)
User reviews
So,5✯ in many ways,but I must deduct a star for the melodrama. Thus 4✯ is my final (and difficult) verdict.
"And here let me say that Mr. Gryce, the detective, was not the thin, wiry individual with the piercing eye you are doubtless expecting to see. On the contrary, 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. At present, then, Mr. Gryce was, as I have already suggested, on intimate terms with the door-knob."
Mr Gryce, though, takes something of a back seat in this story which is narrated by the young lawyer, Everett Raymond, who is called in to provide advice and assistance to Mr Leavenworth's young and beautiful nieces after Mr Leavenworth has been found shot, sitting at his desk in his study. It transpires that the house was locked up for the night and there are no signs of forced entry leading to the shocking conclusion that it may have been someone inside the house who did the deed. Evidence is produced at the inquest which even more shockingly seems to point to one of Mr Leavenworth's nieces as the killer leading Raymond Everett to declare that he will clear the young lady's name by any means necessary (I had to wonder at this point whether he would have been as easily convinced of the lady's innocence if she hadn't been quite so beautiful).
It's a fairly melodramatic story but one which I enjoyed a lot until the solution which seemed to come out of nowhere. Recommended for anyone who likes early detective stories like the Sherlock Holmes tales but be aware that the writing style is quite different.
While not perfect, the book does a good job of illustrating how easy it is to fit facts to a hypothesis and not the other way around. Though Ebenezer Gryce is the official detective, he lets junior attorney Everett Raymond pursue his own line of inquiry driven by his utter conviction that Eleanore Leavenworth must be innocent. The circumstantial evidence against her coupled with her own stubborn silence makes it a hard case to prove. He goes at it doggedly and rationally though his whole supposition is flawed and he’s man enough to admit he was wrong when Gryce confronts him with the fruits of his own investigation.
An entertaining read of a book published in 1878 and introducing the reader to the
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