Story summary
Samenvatting van De zaak naast de deur
- 8 min. leestijd
- 10 parts
- Binnenkort te beluisteren
A woman at her window in Gramercy Park sees a couple enter an empty house, and by noon a body lies in the parlor.
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De zaak naast de deur in het kort
Samenvatting: 8 min leestijd
- Leestijd
- Ongeveer 6 h 40 min5 h 20 min fast, 8 h slow
- Lengte
- 95.600 woorden
- Bibliotheekniveau
- Gemiddeld longer sentences, everyday words
- Voor het eerst verschenen
- 1897by Anna Katharine Green
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Hoelang het duurt om de klassiekers te lezen · Bijgewerkt
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De zaak naast de deur in short
At its center, That Affair Next Door is a hunt for the truth behind a murder that seems to explain itself. A young woman is found dead in an empty mansion. A husband lies about her identity.
What De zaak naast de deur is about
Would you notice a cab stopping at an empty house in the middle of the night? Miss Amelia Butterworth does. On the night of September 17, 1895, she parts her curtains in Gramercy Park and sees a young man and woman let themselves into the closed Van Burnam mansion next door. Ten minutes later the man hurries away alone.
That Affair Next Door is a detective novel by Anna Katharine Green. Amelia tells it herself, a proper, sharp-tongued woman who feels sure she could handle an adventure. Against her stands Ebenezer Gryce, an aging police detective with a fatherly smile and a sly mind.
Voor wie is het?. You will love this book if you enjoy fair puzzles, a witty narrator with strong opinions, old New York society, and a spirited woman who matches wits with a detective.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A curious neighbor watches the empty house
The book opens with a woman who insists she is not nosy. Amelia lives next door to the Van Burnams, a wealthy family supposed to be in Europe. In the middle of a warm night she hears a cab stop and goes to her window. She sees a young man and woman let themselves into the dark house with a key.
At noon Amelia urges a policeman to ring the bell, but nobody answers. Then a cleaning woman arrives, says she has come to air the house, and goes in with him. Soon she cries out that someone has been murdered.
Amelia pushes inside and finds a young woman lying in the parlor beneath a heavy cabinet. She does not faint. She sends for a detective and the coroner, and she keeps her eyes open. She notices that the cleaning woman is first frightened, then cunning, then very eager to hear what the dead girl is wearing.
A curious neighbor who trusts what she sees can find the first thread of a mystery.
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Amelia builds a theory on a grocer's bill
Mr. Gryce questions Amelia before the coroner arrives.
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The Van Burnams fear the dead woman is family
Franklin Van Burnam, the elder son, arrives angry, then grows grave at the sight of the body.
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A broken pin and a hat point to a plan
That night Amelia trades facts with Gryce.
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The inquest turns up a puzzling couple
At the coroner's inquiry Amelia sits in her best bonnet as chief witness.
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Howard tells two stories and is arrested
Howard takes the stand and stays cool.
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A pincushion and a scrubwoman reveal a second woman
Amelia shows Isabella and Caroline that the clock, wound and set correctly, will strike five.
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Amelia follows a fugitive and Gryce accuses another
To test her idea, Amelia places an advertisement for a woman in a brown silk skirt and a plaid blouse who bought a hat that morning.
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Observation beats method, and clothes hide the truth
The book sets two ways of knowing against each other.
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Amelia tells the case in her own voice
The whole story comes through Amelia's pen, and her voice does most of the work.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Amelia Butterworth A proper, sharp-eyed New York spinster who lives next door to the murder and sets out to solve it as Gryce's self-declared rival.
- Ebenezer Gryce An elderly police detective with a fatherly smile and a sly mind, famous for past cases and now matched against Amelia.
- Howard Van Burnam The younger Van Burnam son, proud and stubborn, whose wife is missing and whose changing statements make him the chief suspect.
- Franklin Van Burnam Howard's polished elder brother, a respected businessman who holds the house keys and wants his family's name kept clean.
- Louise Van Burnam Howard's pretty, vain wife, never accepted by his family, who has come to New York hoping to win over his father.
- Mrs. Boppert A frightened, red-faced cleaning woman who knows more about the empty house than she dares say.
- Ruth Oliver A sad-faced young companion in Miss Althorpe's house who hides a secret and shrinks from the Van Burnam name.
- Ella Althorpe A kind and wealthy young woman, soon to be married, who takes in the stranger Ruth Oliver without questions.
How it ends (spoiler)
At Miss Althorpe's wedding, a second bride in white walks to the altar and lays her hand on the groom's arm as the clock strikes eight. Ruth Oliver is really Olive Randolph, the legal wife of Randolph Stone, who tried to kill her and murdered Louise Van Burnam by mistake. Stone collapses and later confesses. Howard is freed, Franklin is cleared, and Olive comes to live with Amelia.
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Vragen over De zaak naast de deur
What is That Affair Next Door about?
It follows Amelia Butterworth, a New York spinster who sees a couple enter an empty house at midnight. The next day a murdered woman is found there. Amelia investigates beside, and against, the police detective Ebenezer Gryce.
Who is Amelia Butterworth?
She is the narrator, a prim, curious single woman in her fifties from Gramercy Park. She takes pride in her manners and her sharp eye, and her habit of noticing small details helps her solve the case.
Is That Affair Next Door a true story?
No, it is a work of detective fiction by Anna Katharine Green, set in 1895. The setting is realistic New York, with real shops and streets, but the people and the crime are invented.
Is this book easy to read?
It has a clear plot, short chapters that end on small surprises, plain dialogue, and a lively narrator whose humor keeps the pages moving. The inquest scenes read like quick question and answer exchanges.
Is Amelia Butterworth part of a series?
Yes. Amelia first appears here and returns in a later Green novel. Gryce, the detective, appears in several of the author's books, so readers can follow both characters beyond this story.
Verwijs naar deze uitgave
Green, Anna Katharine. That Affair Next Door. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/that-affair-next-door.
Green, A. K. (2026). That affair next door. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/that-affair-next-door (Original work published 1897)
Green, Anna Katharine. That Affair Next Door. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/that-affair-next-door.
@book{green2026that,
author = {Green, Anna Katharine},
title = {That Affair Next Door},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/that-affair-next-door},
note = {First published 1897}
}
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