Customer Reviews

Initials Only

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm so happy to see some of the great works of Anna Katherine Green; she has become one of my favorite writers, after I ran out of Christie's books to read. I found out that Agatha Christie, got into writing after reading Greens' books, who was a bestselling author who publishing about 40 books. I read she was first poet and later became a novelist to get attention to her poetry, however, she was so successful at mystery plotting, (she was an expert at the gradual unfolding of the mystery through the successful unearthing of clue after clue), that she dove right into mystery writing only.
She was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing legally accurate stories, something like Law and Order in the way that the stories are accurate and sometimes based on actual cases. Her many fans besides me, include such literary luminaries as Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Mary Roberts Rinehart, and Agatha Christie. In fact, not just Christie, but Rinehart wrote that it was the novels of Anna Katharine Green which first inspired her to become writers of mystery fiction to.

I am half way through Initials Only, and its great - some of the passages of detective work are just flawless and first rate - better than anything written these days, (well, as good as the best)...it's locked me in and I loved it. Green really lays out the clues, and I am already looking forward to reading it a second time actually just to see the expertise in her work. Truly a great book. Enjoy!

If you love a mystery, if you love Christie, or Rinehart, you'll love this book too! Green has the ability to make her novels feel rich and complete, and the mystery sound.

I've just recently discovered Anna Katharine Green. I've enjoyed the three novels I've read but this one is my favorite. Written like classic literature, the plot is developed slowly, with interesting detail.

I'm one of those people addicted to British mysteries, both on TV and in print. I enjoy the older TV crop, Rumple of the Bailey, Miss Marple, Poirot Frost, etc, but I do enjoy some of the new TV productions that the British offer too. As far as books, I am also of the old school, Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Poirot, Tommy and Tuppence, etc. Of course, all the authors I like have passed on, and while I do re-read their books over and over, I miss new mysteries of the old school. I say that because if any of you feel as I do, I can offer you a wonderful solution that I surprised and delighted me, and that is the works of Anna Katherine Green. I know there are lots of better informed reviewers on Amazon, so please forgive me if I am preaching to the choir, but I had never heard of Green before, let alone that she was the inspiration of Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle, Mary Roberts Rinehart, etc. I just had never heard of her, (some American TV producer should read her books and make a US mystery series in the British manner since we have exhausted Christie, Doyle, and Rinehart!), but I digress.

Here is really what I wanted to say, if you love Agatha, and the rest, and miss new mysteries, and are tired re-reading from your existing library, (because you know `whodunit'), than here is a wonderful surprise, you can read the works of Anna Katherine Green! Short and sweet, she `wrote the book' on these types of `locked door' mysteries, or they type favored by you and I. She was American, but the method, the situations, the characters and motives are all as good as the British authors she inspired. And for the record, I'm not anti-American, I'm an American, but its the style that Green did create, that I like so much, and was followed well by the British, that I like so much, I hope you know what I mean. :)

Drink from the well that was the source, and enjoy some fresh mysteries! It's nice for a change NOT knowing whodunit!

On the Kindle edition the letter referred to at the end of Chapter 3 of the book is missing. I looked the book up on Amazon and found the missing letter on page 26 of the following paperback edition: (amazon.com/Initials-Only-Green-Anna-Katharine/dp/1113431334/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305578307&sr=1-2#_). As other letters appear in this book I'll have to look them up as well.

Despite this inconvenience I am enjoying the book. I sometimes relish the simplicity of mysteries written in the early 1900's.

Amazon points out that "This is book 11 of 12 in the Ebenezer Gryce series". Actually, the author has aged her detective so that in this book he is the Grey Eminence for a young colleague who is at the Center of the investigation. Nothing is lost by starting with this book: it is entirely self-contained. The mystery to be solved is the unexplained death of a society woman in the midst of a crowded lobby. She bears a wound but its source initially cannot be ascertained. When it is, apparently, the Coroners jury declares her death to have been a suicide. Neither venerable Ebenezer Gryce nor his colleague are satisfied with the verdict. The rest of the book is dedicated to the search for a killer and how he could have killed the women. There are different narrators but the story moves along seamlessly. The style is mildly dated but in no way strange to contemporary readers. Characters are quite well drawn and the plot tricky.
Katherine Ann Greene's reputation is justified. She may not ordinarily be ranked with the Masters (and Mistresses) of crime today, but that is just the whim of publishers. It is quite worth the time you will spend reading; cost-less, it is a great bargain.