Ebenezer Gryce

Anna Katharine Green (1846 - 1935) was one of the crime novelists and paved the way for later female writers of detective novels, like Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh.

Credited by many as the mother of the detective novel, Anna Katharine Green published her first mystery novel - The Leavenworth Case - in 1878, almost a decade before Sherlock Holmes made his appearance. Green's intrepid Ebenezer Gryce, a seasoned New York detective, takes up the case of a brutally murdered millionaire philanthropist. One of the murdered man's two nieces is set to inherit an immense fortune, and she and her cousin are high on the suspect list. 

"Horatio Leavenworth, Esq., a millionaire, is murdered in his library while he is engaged in reviewing a book he plans to publish. He was shot cleanly in the back of the head (with his own pistol), meaning that he did not turn his head when his assassin entered the room. This fact led detective Ebenezer Gryce to conclude that he recognized the footsteps of his assailant and felt he had nothing to fear from this person." Thus begins this first novel in the "Mr. Gryce" series.

The classic genre-defining whodunit, by the mother of the detective novel. Introducing the first American series detective, Ebenezer Gryce, The Leavenworth Case was published nine years before the debut of Sherlock Holmes, and made author Anna Katharine Green an enormously popular and influential writer who changed the mystery genre forever.

Horatio Leavenworth is a New York merchant whose material wealth is matched by his eminence in the community and reputation for good works.

Horatio Leavenworth is a New York merchant whose material wealth is matched by his eminence in the communityand reputation for good works. He is also the guardian of two striking nieces who share his Fifth Avenue mansion. Mary, her uncle's favorite, is to inherit her uncle's fortune at his death. As this mystery opens, that lamentable event has just occurred. Leavenworth has been shot to death and circumstances point to one of his young wards.

In A Strange Disappearance, we have a small cast of characters, richly described and all engaged in discovering how and why a servant woman has disappeared from Mr Blake’s mansion in the middle of the night. A classic mystery! 

In the pretty little town of Sibley, NY, the court has adjourned for lunch, and Judge Evans and some of the leading lawyers of the district stand outside the courthouse discussing the limitations of the criminal classes. A stranger describes to them just how a man might commit a murder and avoid detection - and only minutes later, the widow Clemmens is discovered struck down in her parlor by an unknown hand in circumstances eerily similar to those described by the stranger.   

A doctor preparing for his wedding is interrupted by a detective with an errand requiring great discretion. Can the doctor identify a mysterious woman at a hotel? He can. She is weeping...she is distraught...she is his fiancee. Leaving her in her misery, he returns to the wedding site to discover his bride-to-be has been there for hours. From there, the mystery only deepens.

Several girls, all bearing the name "Jenny Rogers", are being killed in the city of New York. In the middle of it, there are two suspects: a famous painter and a visiting stranger, who also happen to bear, in their turn, identical names. Behind it all, the dying wishes of a man and a nefarious plot to lay claim to a matter of millions. 

Anna Katherine Green (1846-1935) was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and has been called “the mother of the detective novel”. Her style would influence other writers such as Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Doctor, His Wife and the Clock is the sixth title in her mystery series and is more a novelette compared to her other books. The story features one of her reoccurring characters, Ebenezer Gryce, who is called in to find out who killed a well-loved and respected citizen in a small community where he had no enemies to speak of. 

A dead woman is discovered in the parlor of an empty luxury home in New York's famed Gramercy Park. Thus opens Anna Katharine Green's popular detective novel That Affair Next Door.  

A man is found dead in the study of his New York City house and Detective Gryce is called upon to deduce the how and why of his murder - if it is indeed a murder. With the assistance of Miss Amelia Butterworth, Gryce must investigate the meaning of the meager clues, including the cries of a talking bird, in order to uncover what happened to the victim. Solving this crime will involve several generations of two families. Author Anna Katharine Green was often referred to as "the mother of the detective novel" and was an early influence on Agatha Christie.

One of my Sons, published in 1901, is a classic whodunit tale of murder and mystery. Set in New York, a murder of a multi-billionaire brings about the recurring question "Which?", referring to which of his sons committed this despicable act of parricide. Green keeps her audience on the edge of its seat with this heart wrenching tale of family woes, love, and a bit of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson mystery. The question of "Which?" carries on to the end of the story, through exciting and surprising twists and turns no one ever sees coming. 

The series of detective stories Anna Katherine Green wrote were among the earliest in the 20th century, and depict modern America and the workings of the police departments. These unfold and are full of the details of a new 20th century world. Initials Only is set in New York, and purveys a certain atmosphere unique to that period. It revolves around the workings of the retired Detective Gryce and his young assistant, Mr Sweetwater. A seemingly unsolvable mystery, the death by apparent suicide of an heiress, is investigated by the two detectives and the New York Coroner.

A who-done-it mystery from Anna Katharine Green written in 1917 begins immediately with a murder by Native American arrow within a museum. Who is the young girl who is murdered, and why is she alone? No one knows. Who is the woman right next to her? Ms. Green develops her story and characters, and the intrigue builds. Is the murderer a man or woman?