The House of the Whispering Pines [Paperback]

Anna Katharine Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2007

The moon rode high; but ominous clouds were rushing towards it¿clouds heavy with snow. I watched these clouds as I drove recklessly desperately over the winter roads.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: BiblioBazaar (February 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0554018993
• ISBN-13: 978-0554018997
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

154 of 155 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "You do not often see such beauty", June 11, 2010

By 

Patto (Vermont) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: The House of the Whispering Pines (Paperback)

Carmel Cumberland at seventeen is of such rare beauty that Elwood Ranelagh, upon seeing her, falls directly out of love with his fiancé, her older sister Adelaide, and madly in love with Carmel.

His selfish attempt to marry Carmel in place of Adelaide indirectly leads to Adelaide's murder.

The scene of the crime is Ranelagh's clubhouse, The Whispering Pines, just after he, its president, has locked it up for the winter. No one should have been there that snowy winter night, but several people were, either having secret meetings or wandering about in the dark. The police struggle to figure it out, as they lay a murder charge first against Ranelagh, and then Arthur Cumberland, the dissipated brother of Carmel and Adelaide.

So perplexing is the case that the local authorities call in an ace detective from the New York City police force. Sweetwaters with his weak chin and protruding nose impresses no one, until he begins uncovering disturbing new evidence.

Anna Katherine Green was the daughter of a prominent trial lawyer, and as a child she often listened to him discussing cases with his friends - fellow lawyers, judges and police chiefs. When she later became a best selling novelist, Green was greatly admired for her accurate presentation of the law, forensics and police procedure.

In The House of the Whispering Pines, published in 1910, Green does a masterful job of portraying tricky interrogations. Her inquest and trial scenes are rich in drama and suspense.

Green is credited with many original contributions to the genre of detective fiction, including the invention of the detective series.

I found this book thoroughly enjoyable. There's nothing quite like a good vintage mystery, with characters dashing about in one-horse sleighs through the blinding snow, their emotions in turmoil.

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First Kindle Read, December 11, 2010

By 

Burrow "eeyorethegreat" - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The House of the Whispering Pines (Kindle Edition)

This was the first book I downloaded and read on my new Kindle. Being new to Kindle, I wanted to try a free e book while I got used to the process of reading on a Kindle. I chose this as I tend to enjoy mysteries and thrillers. I wasn't thinking that this would probably be a fluff book but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed it. The author is quite wordy at times but despite her meandering she gets to the point eventually. It took me about a quarter of the way into the book for it to really grab my interest but once it did I needed to know how it would all turn out in the end. The main Character Elwood Ranelagh, is easy to despise, but the author also instills enough in her writing to have compassion for him even though he bears much responsibility for the horror of events that take place. The same as for the drunken brother whom seems undoubtedly to blame for his sister Adelaide's death. Interestingly I found both Carmel and Adelaide just short of being featherheads so blinded by a single man's attentions that they lose themselves to it all. Sweetwater the New York Detective despite the descriptions of his homely appearance is instantly attractive and likable due to his quick whit and sharp mind.

This is not a story I would have picked up had it not been free on the Kindle list but I was glad to have opened my horizons to it.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down., December 9, 2010

By 

Cheryl Atkins - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The House of the Whispering Pines (Kindle Edition)

I liked this book. Like many of these old free books, they are not heavy reading, and not actually believable but entertaining. This book held my interest all the way through. I did guess the ending, but not too early to ruin it.