This was such a different, interesting read. It was how detective series began really and pre-dates even Sherlock Holmes so it's of significant literary importance. The concept of a female villain at the time was quite unheard of so this was an interesting whodunnit. The twists and turns weren't as complex as those found in today's examples and I suppose it was a little predictable. It's different to works from Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie in that they are of English origin while Anna Katharine Green was American, and the styles of each writer is remarkably different. The author included plenty of story lines to keep the reader interested, secret marriages, dead bodies, burnt documents, locked rooms, even confessions. Although it didn't take too long to solve this crimes it was a really enjoyable experience reading the mother of detective novels and witnessing where they all began. It was a very worthwhile read. I give it 4 stars.

Unfortunately, I could not get past the writing style so this was a DNF for me. I honestly gave it a few tries, but alas, it was too much of a struggle for the plot to catch my attention.

This is a fine mystery filled with overwhelming suspicions, indecipherable clues, era sensibilities, and wild twists. Told from a semi-outsider’s point of view, it gives you the same sense of suspense and surprise that the hero feels as he tries to sort the truth from lies. You can try to decipher the clues along with the hero, yet you will still be surprised by what the police discover.
The main actor is a little naïve and over gallant, the heroines obstinate to a fault, and the detective inclusive to a surprising degree; but together they help build a fairly strong mystery or rather mysteries. A lifetime of greed, pride, and deception combined with beauty and passion leading to murder in a locked room. Who was the mysterious stranger? What dark family secret could be more important than catching the murderer and clearing the innocent? Will everyone in this family be destroyed by it?
I found it to be a very enjoyable vintage mystery. There were two curse words. Other than that it was very clean.
I received this as a free ARC from Dover Publications. No favorable review was required. It was my pleasure to provide my honest opinions.

Wealthy Horatio Leavenworth, is found dead one morning. Evidence seems to point to one of his nieces who lived with him. Everett Raymond a junior partner in an attorney firm decides he must provide her innocence.
An entertaining read of a book published in 1878 and introducing the reader to the detective, Ebenezer Gryce, who appears in many of her books.

I’m glad that British Library and Poisoned Pen Press have reissued what critics call Anna Katherine Green’s finest work, her first novel The Leavenworth Case. Published in 1878, it predates Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, Fergus Hume’s The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, and Israel Zangwill’s The Big Bow Mystery. In short, Green’s detective novel is one of the first.

But I’m glad more for historical reasons than enjoyment. I loved Green’s Violet Strange stories, but this earliest work proves mediocre. The novel is narrated by young lawyer Everett Raymond, a man superficial, priggish and naïve to the point of fecklessness. How feckless? Here’s Raymond being questioned by New York Metropolitan police detective Ebeneezer Gryce on his presence when a woman, an important witness in a murder case, scribbled a letter in Raymond’s very presence:


“You never thought to look at its superscription before it was dropped into the box.”

“I had neither opportunity nor right to do so.”

“Was it not written in your presence?”

“It was.”

“And you never regarded the affair as worth your attention?”

“However I may have regarded it, I did not see how I could prevent Miss Leavenworth from dropping a letter into a box if she chose to do so.”

“That is because you are a gentleman. Well, it has its disadvantages,” he muttered broodingly.


What a blockhead! Just to seal the deal, Raymond insists that no refined woman could have shot the victim to death. As Gryce sardonically points out, one has only to read the newspaper to discover that pretty ladies can commit some ugly crimes.

I can only hope that Green was satirizing the Victorian notion of gentility, but I doubt that to be the case. Predictably, Raymond decides, based only on pretty looks, that the female suspect could not possibly be guilty, and he ventures on from there to try to prove her innocence. How much better this novel would have been if it had dispensed with Raymond and focuses on Gryce and his master-of-disguise sidekick, Morris (nicknamed Q for “query")!

Lastly, Green does not always play fair with clues, especially at the novel’s end.

The Leavenworth Case is definitely worth reading, if only to get a taste of early Victorian detective fiction; however, readers should keep their expectations in check.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, British Library and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.

Very entertaining mystery book. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. Looking forward to reading more by this author.

Not for modern readers, The Leavenworth Case will made the reader appreciate Sir Arthur Conan Doyle all the more.

Bestselling 1878 amateur detective mystery. It sold 750,000 copies in the 15 years after its publishing. Arguably the first full length mystery written by a woman, The Leavenworth Case is narrated by Mr. Raymond, an attorney. Assisted by Mr. Gryce, a police detective and his shady operative, Q, Mr. Raymond is solving the murder of Mr. Leavenworth in his library with his own gun.

Only the people within the house could have committed the crime. They included the victim’s two nieces, Mary and Elenore, who were taken in by him as young children after their parents’ deaths. Only one was set to inherit his fortune. His secretary Mr. Harwell, Thomas the butler, Katherine the cook, Molly the upstairs maid and Hannah the ladies maid were also within the house. Hannah disappeared the night of the murder with only the clothes on her back.

I was looking forward to reading this historic book. Loving both Sherlock Holmes and British golden age mysteries, this book seemed perfect for me. However, the old-fashioned writing and convoluted plot ruined this book for me. The author would describe something in excruciating detail that was irrelevant to the story and then gloss over items that ended up being crucial clues. I was surprised by the sexism since the author was female. Worst was the book was just boring and seemed to go on forever. I would only recommend The Leavenworth Case to those reading it for an English class. Even then it will be a tough slog. 2 stars.

Thanks to the publisher, Dover Publications, and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

The Leavenworth Case" is a mystery set in New York City that was published in 1878. A rich man is found murdered in a locked library, and a niece who will inherit little is caught destroying evidence along with the key to the library. The clues soon point suspicion instead toward someone who has much more to gain from the death, but did that person commit the murder or get someone else to do it?

While I initially correctly guessed whodunit, the clues pointed first here and then there, so I was no longer certain about who did it until the confession at the end. The main character was a gentleman in whom the ladies and others trusted and confided. He helped the official detective to gather clues, but the detective was the one to provoke the confession.

The characters were interesting and a product of their time, but they weren't highly developed. There was no sex or bad language (beyond a few exclamations referring to God by people who believed in God). Overall, I'd recommend this interesting and complex mystery.

When an older gentleman dies under mysterious circumstances, suspicion falls on one of the two nieces that lives with him. For some reason, one of the nieces is set to inherit the bulk of his fortune while the other niece is not entirely excluded from the will but she is certainly slighted. The body of Horatio Leavenworth is found with a bullet in the head in the library of his mansion. The house was locked but filled with not only his nieces but also various servants (including one who has come up missing).
Our first person narrator, Mr. Raymond, works with Ebeneezer Gryce (who will become a regular in Green's mysteries) to find out whether, as the evidence seems, niece Eleanor really killed her uncle out of spite.
An interesting story. Definitely a good mystery within the Victorian writing -- a little meandering but worth reading if you like the classics.

Three stars
This book comes out April 18
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

This was...not a great mystery. Green didn't do a great job of building suspense, so I really didn't care who did it or why. I also felt that the book could've been shorter and probably would have been more effective if it was. Finally, I thought the characters were all pretty underdeveloped which again, made it difficult to care what happened.

Brilliantly written early modern mystery which has become a classic. Love the pacing, the writing, the characters. Highly recommended.