Customer Reviews

The Woman in the Alcove

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

 

 

A forerunner of the classic English mystery genre, The Woman in the Alcove was written by an American in 1905. Miss Van Arsdale, short and plain, is a member of the lower echelon of New York's high society, and has recently resigned her self to a life as a spinster nurse. As the story opens, she is attending a grand party at the Ramsdells' mansion, and is swept off her feet by Anson Durand, who proposes marriage. But the star of the evening is not a person; it is the spectacular diamond worn by the elegant Mrs. Fairbrother.

During the course of the evening, Mr. Durand and Miss Van Arsdale are often separated, and she notices some decidedly odd goings-on in the curtained alcove at the end of one of the large salons. It comes to pass that Mrs. Fairbrother is murdered there, ostensibly for her diamond, and Mr. Durand, alas, is the prime suspect.

But Miss Van Arsdale is certain that her one true love is innocent. Could this be a set-up? She determines to discover who is the real perpetrator, and manages to convince Inspector Dalzell to assist her in quest to identify that true villain.

This book is a delight to read if only for its illustrations. The plot is an intriguing one, but it is narrated in the first person, which by necessity makes it a "talky" sort of mystery, with only brief episodes of action. The vocabulary and speech patterns of the day contribute to that quality. Also, it was rather difficult to believe that Miss Van Arsdale could fall so instantly and completely in love with a man with whom she had never spoken to prior this meeting. Finally, Inspector Dalzell comes across as a rather blinkered detective, having made up his mind that first night that Durand had to be guilty.

Miss Van Arsdale is a true Edwardian heroine. The Woman in the Alcove, despite its naivete, is a very proper yet very enjoyable little mystery that deserves a modern readership.

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.

The Woman in the Alcove is one of her best novels, and a great mystery, I'm such a fan, and so happy to have found these books, that a year ago I had never heard of. Here's how this mystery starts..."I was, perhaps, the plainest girl in the room that night. I was also the happiest - up to one o'clock. Then my whole world crumbled, or, at least, suffered an eclipse. Why and how, I am about to relate...." I'll let you in on one thing and one thing only: it wasn't the Butler!
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.

Now back to my mystery!

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. Now, about British vs. American, I'm not anti-American, I'm an American, but its the style, and I think you know what I mean. Green is American, and her stories are set there. They just that 'certain something' that makes it work.

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

eBook:
There are a couple issues with the electronic version. There are some typos, most noticeably the fact that "lie" is sometimes used where the word "him" should be. There are also references to floorplans and a writing sample, but these do not seem to be included in the electronic version. While the writing sample is not crucial, the floorplan would help clarify movements of characters during the commission of the crime.

Content:
All in all this is a good story. I read "The House of the Whispering Pines" just recently and this is very much in that style. Lots of fainting and several comments about a "woman's place," combined with detailed detective work and an impressive grasp on crime. It's an unusual combination. It's a quick read - I had a hard time putting it down as I wanted to know what happens next. All in all very enjoyable story.

This is one of the most refreshingly well written mysteries I have read in awhile. At least as good and maybe better than Christie, who I find to be somewhat predictable and less original in some of her plots. Green is a real find.

a very proper mystery thusly to boring for me in fairness i guess i enjoy more of a thriller that is a page turner