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That Affair Next Door

Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
The dead body of a strange woman is found in an empty house next door to Amelia Butterworth, a single old lady with a formidable curiosity and lots of free time. When Detective Gryce gets on the case, he has a hard time persuading her to mind her own business, but soon Miss Butterworth's female intuition and knack for interrogating witnesses through small talk proves invaluable to the investigation. In fact, she outsmarts all the professional men. 'That Affair Next Door' (1897) is Anna Katharine Green's eighth in the Detective Gryce series, but the first of several in which the unlikely pair, Miss Butterworth and Ebenezer Gryce, team up to solve crimes despite the (quite entertaining) tension between them. It is worth noting that Agatha Christie found the inspiration for her famous Miss Marple character in none other than Miss Butterworth.-
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from February 24, 2020
      First published in 1897, this cleverly plotted mystery from Greene (1846–1935) introduces Amelia Butterworth, an elderly spinster “of Colonial ancestry and no inconsiderable importance in the social world,” who lives alone in Manhattan’s exclusive Gramercy Park neighborhood. One night, she’s awakened by the sound of a horse-drawn cab pulling up outside the mansion next door. A man and a woman alight and enter the house, which Miss Butterworth knows to be empty. Ten minutes later, the man leaves. She subsequently summons the police, who investigate and find the body of a woman lying crushed beneath “a fallen piece of furniture.” Det. Ebenezer Gryce arrives, and the competition begins: who will solve the murder first? Much of the book’s enjoyment stems from Miss Butterworth’s spirited discussions with the 77-year-old Gryce and her seeming lack of self-awareness. She describes herself as “not an inquisitive woman” and having a “dignified deportment,” while those around her see her as pushy and nosy. This inaugural volume in the Library of Congress Crime Classics series, featuring the first woman sleuth in a series, is a must for genre buffs. (Apr.)Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated the book's title.

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  • English

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