Horatio Leavenworth is a millionaire. He is found murdered in his library. His last act appears to have been reviewing a book he had planned on publishing. He was killed with a shot to the back of his head from his own pistol. To add to the mystery, the room was locked. Detective Ebenezer Gryce has decided this must mean Leavenworth knew his killer, as he was not alarmed when the killer approached in his private secured space. The question is: who was close to the victim, and wanted him dead?
I thought this was an interesting mystery. It was fascinating to read a book that was early in this genre. Some of it seems like it has been done before, but this is actually one of the original mysteries. Many plot points we think overdone and classic such as: the murder in a locked room, a missing maid, a missing key, burned evidence, and a recently changed will were original or relatively new when this book was written.
I liked discovering the clues in this mystery. It made for an interesting puzzle to solve along with Detective Gryce. The beginning is a little slow, but keep reading. It starts to pick up, and you become involved in the case. There are a lot of layers in this story, so be prepared.
This was the first book Green wrote featuring Detective Gryce. She wrote more mysteries with him solving the case, that I would like to read. I also liked learning more about the author Anna Katherine Green. She wrote this about a decade before Sherlock Holmes was written, and was a very popular writer in her time. She is credited with developing the series detective and helping to shape this genre into the form we know today. She is known as the mother of the detective novel.
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