It's a long-term goal of mine to read all of Anna Katherine Green's mysteries and this one has been sitting on my shelves for awhile now.

AKG was, and is, considered a strong mystery writer, but as is true of most every writer, her work is sometimes better than others. This was one of the ones that wasn't quite so great, though still an enjoyable read. I imagine Green was going for what we'd call today a police procedural, as the murderer isn't kept a mystery; the reader is made privy to the information the same time Inspector Gryce first voices his suspicions. I'm not a procedural fan, as it contains less puzzle than I prefer. There was also a plot twist that was either poorly hidden, or I'm too jaded, but I called it from the first. Her reveal of it, though, would have knocked my socks off if I hadn't guessed early on.

Overall, I enjoyed it and look forward to acquiring more of her work. ( )

This 1917 mystery was good though I felt that the big twist at the end was not surprising. I liked Green's octogenarian detective Mr. Gryce. ( )