Customer Reviews

The Leavenworth Case

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

 

 

If you are looking for free Kindle mysteries, I definitely recommend this.

A murdered man.

Two nieces. One inherits. One gets nothing.

A very juicy secret - especially for the time.

A 2nd murder. Unrequited love - the confession of the murderer is great.

Strong detectives.

Definitely get and well worth your time. A bit longer than many of the stories of the era.

Great mystery written in Victorian era--this does not read like a modern novel. I assume anyone picking up this book would realize that. But, I never felt like I was "slogging through" or forcing myself to continue to read it as I do with some novels of that era. It held my interest all the way through with the characters and plot (OK, I guessed who did the murder early on, but for some reason I usually do that with most mysteries). Just started reading Anna Katherine Green's books (and there are a lot of them available for free on Kindle :-)), but I look forward to reading the next one and the next one, etc. I will not give away any of the plot but let you know that that it is a murder mystery written mostly from the perspective of a civilian who is working with the police on the matter. Not sure how accurate that would be that the police in that era would have a civilian do a lot of the footwork (and this particular civilian), but you will see many differences between how things are done now and how they were done then. There are a few typos but nothing that you cannot figure out and not that many.

The suspects keep multiplying in the death of a wealthy merchant, starting with the neices he adopted. Mr. Gryce, a shrewd and eccentric detective, gets to the bottom of the crime with the help of his «Watson», a lawyer infatuated with one of the suspects.

Green's mysteries are period pieces, but she has an eye for the telling detail that makes characters like Gryce compelling. Good for fans of Christie.

This was my first book by Anna Katherine Green. It was written in 1878 and highlighted the richness of the language and customs of that time. I enjoyed the book and will read more books by this author. It was well written and the plot was well-developed. Even though all the clues were provided to the reader, I did not figure it out until the murderer's confession. I got the Kindle version, and the only detraction was the misspellings and grammar errors. However, since these books are typed into electronic format by volunteers, that is to be expected. There were a few instances where the errors clouded the meaning, but on the whole, I was able to work through most of them. I would recommend this book if you like mysteries, and especially if you enjoy writings from the 1800s.