12 h 31 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A rich man lies shot in his Fifth Avenue library, and the people closest to him have secrets to keep.
In Anna Katharine Green's The Leavenworth Case, young lawyer Everett Raymond enters a wealthy New York household on the morning after a murder. Horatio Leavenworth is dead. His nieces, Mary and Eleanore, face questions about their lives, their prospects, and the fortune that divides them. As suspicion settles over the house, even silence begins to look like evidence.
Police detective Ebenezer Gryce works quietly, watching people and following proof wherever it leads. Raymond wants justice, but his concern for Eleanore clouds his judgment as her reserve draws suspicion. Rooms, timetables, testimony, and things left unsaid build a careful puzzle. How can he defend someone he admires without mistaking his own hopes for the truth?
What you’ll discover
- A household under suspicion Step inside a mansion where family affairs and hidden lives shape a murder inquiry.
- A detective worth watching Follow Gryce's patient attention to people who may reveal more than they intend.
- Two nieces, different prospects Meet Mary and Eleanore, whose contrasting positions place inheritance at the heart of suspicion.
- A lawyer's divided loyalties Watch Raymond struggle to separate his feelings for Eleanore from the demands of proof.
- The weight of silence Discover how unanswered questions turn an ordinary room or conversation into a source of suspense.
Who will love it
For readers who love carefully constructed mysteries, a courtroom flavor and the manners of the 1870s, and anyone curious about how the modern detective story began.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A rich man is found dead
- Two nieces and a great fortune
- Gryce enters with his quiet method
- Servants, secretary and suspicion
- Raymond must choose between heart and proof
- What the novel is about and how it works
Who’s who
- Everett RaymondA young lawyer who tells the story and is drawn into the case, wanting to see justice done and a woman he admires cleared.
- Ebenezer GryceA patient, soft-spoken police detective who studies people without seeming to, and who follows the evidence wherever it goes.
- Horatio LeavenworthA rich New York merchant found shot in his library, whose will and household affairs shape the whole inquiry.
- Eleanore LeavenworthThe dark, proud niece of the dead man, whose reserve and silences draw suspicion and Raymond's concern.
- Mary LeavenworthThe fair, gentle second niece and heiress of the fortune, whose private life is closely tied to the family's secrets.
- Mrs. BeldenA woman outside the household, whose home becomes important as the investigation goes on.
- Trueman HarwellThe dead man's secretary, who knows the household's business and is questioned along with the rest of the staff.
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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The Leavenworth Case
by Anna Katharine Green · 1878
A merchant lies shot in his Fifth Avenue library, and a young lawyer must weigh his feelings against the evidence.
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In short
The Leavenworth Case is a detective novel by Anna Katharine Green, first published in 1878. It is set in New York, in a wealthy household on Fifth Avenue, where a rich merchant named Horatio Leavenworth is found shot dead in his own library.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A rich man is found dead
The novel opens with Everett Raymond, a junior partner in a law firm, called to the Leavenworth mansion on Fifth Avenue. Horatio Leavenworth, the head of the house, has been found shot in the library. He was a wealthy merchant, and the house is the kind of place where money, order and privacy are taken for granted. Now police officers move through its quiet rooms.
Raymond comes as a lawyer who knew the family through his firm. He is shown the scene and hears the first accounts from the servants. Green gives these early pages a sober, factual tone. The reader learns where the body lay, who found it, and which doors and windows matter.
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What is The Leavenworth Case about?
It is a detective novel about the murder of a wealthy New York merchant, Horatio Leavenworth, in his library. A young lawyer and a police detective investigate while suspicion falls on the household and the dead man's two nieces.
Who is Ebenezer Gryce?
Gryce is the quiet, patient police detective in the novel. He works by listening, comparing testimony and watching people closely. Anna Katharine Green brought him back in later books, and he is seen as an early detective hero.
When was The Leavenworth Case written and is it a true story?
Anna Katharine Green published it in 1878. It is fiction, but it draws on the real legal and police methods of the time, such as inquests, testimony and the reading of wills, which gives it a realistic feel.
The author
Anna Katharine Green
1846–1935 · American detective novelist
Anna Katharine Green (1846–1935) was an American novelist born in Brooklyn, New York. She wrote detective fiction, including The Leavenworth Case, published in 1878, and That Affair Next Door, published in 1897. She married actor and furniture designer Charles Rohlfs in 1884. She lived in Buffalo, New York, where she died.
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