That Affair Next Door (Large Print Edition)

Paperback, 350 pages

English language

Published Nov. 1, 2007 by BiblioBazaar.

ISBN:: 978-1-4346-7677-1

(1 review)

Miss Amelia Butterworth prides herself on being an observer of human nature, especially of the people she sees every day from her usual spot at her front window—that is, until she witnesses the prelude to a ghastly murder. Late at night, two people enter her neighbor's home, but only one leaves. The next morning a young woman is found dead, crushed beyond recognition beneath a cabinet. But her death was no accident—it soon comes to light that she was stabbed by a seemingly innocuous item: a hat pin.

Rife with social tension and mistaken identity, the messy case is assigned to veteran Detective Ebenezer Gryce. He expects Miss Butterworth to demurely return home, but she was there at the beginning of this case and she intends to see it through to the end. Miss Butterworth is determined to solve the mystery before the detective, but what begins as a battle …

Miss Amelia Butterworth prides herself on being an observer of human nature, especially of the people she sees every day from her usual spot at her front window—that is, until she witnesses the prelude to a ghastly murder. Late at night, two people enter her neighbor's home, but only one leaves. The next morning a young woman is found dead, crushed beyond recognition beneath a cabinet. But her death was no accident—it soon comes to light that she was stabbed by a seemingly innocuous item: a hat pin.

Rife with social tension and mistaken identity, the messy case is assigned to veteran Detective Ebenezer Gryce. He expects Miss Butterworth to demurely return home, but she was there at the beginning of this case and she intends to see it through to the end. Miss Butterworth is determined to solve the mystery before the detective, but what begins as a battle of the sexes soon turns into a fight for the ever-elusive truth.

Anna Katharine Green is credited as the "mother of the detective novel," and the classic That Affair Next Door proves that the intrigue of a well-crafted mystery is timeless.

18 editions

Dysmorphia reviewed That Affair Next Door (Large Print Edition) by Anna Katharine Green

Review of 'That Affair Next Door (Large Print Edition)' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

A middle-aged single woman turns into a gentlewoman detective when a strange murder takes place next door. The story is set in New York City "society" (which is not the same thing as society in general) in, presumably the late 1890s, since the book was published in 1897. The period setting adds to the charm of the book. The period racism detracts from it. The book is purring along nicely, bits of dry humor interspersed with detective work and character sketches, and then Miss Butterworth visits the Chinese laundry for some clues and suddenly things get racist as hell. No, not because the laundry is Chinese--it's the way the Chinese dude running the laundry is portrayed and the inner monologue of the protagonist as it relates to him. If I wanted to be really generous I'd say the author is merely portraying Miss Butterworth a bit backwards but there are …

A middle-aged single woman turns into a gentlewoman detective when a strange murder takes place next door. The story is set in New York City "society" (which is not the same thing as society in general) in, presumably the late 1890s, since the book was published in 1897. The period setting adds to the charm of the book. The period racism detracts from it. The book is purring along nicely, bits of dry humor interspersed with detective work and character sketches, and then Miss Butterworth visits the Chinese laundry for some clues and suddenly things get racist as hell. No, not because the laundry is Chinese--it's the way the Chinese dude running the laundry is portrayed and the inner monologue of the protagonist as it relates to him. If I wanted to be really generous I'd say the author is merely portraying Miss Butterworth a bit backwards but there are no clues that would honestly indicate that. At least the overt racism is contained to one short scene, but if you're like me, once you read that it changes how you see the novel.

Anyway, an enjoyable enough and somewhat unusual mystery novel, though a bit dated in its social attitudes.

Subjects

Fiction / General