The Leavenworth Case

"The Leavenworth Case" is the first novel of Anna Katharine Green, an American poet and novelist, who was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America, and distinguished herself for writing well plotted, accurate legal thrillers. Green is credited with many firsts. With the character Ebenezer Gryce of the New York Metropolitan Police Force, Green developed the series detective. Amelia Butterworth, a nosy society spinster who assists Gryce in three novels, is the prototype for Miss Marple, Miss Silver and other similar mystery solving female characters. And with Violet Strange, a debutante with a secret life as a sleuth, she invented the 'girl detective.'"The Leavenworth Case" predates the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes by nine years, yet it feels much more modern. Although it bears the romantic sentimentalism of its time, the story possesses a never seen before mastery of detection.