10 h 18 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 10 h 18 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Who suspects the young woman at a society gathering is there to solve a crime?
Violet Strange belongs among the guests at balls, dinners and country house gatherings. She also works in secret as a detective. In Anna Katharine Green’s nine linked mysteries, wealthy homes hide deaths, thefts and strange disappearances. A family’s good name may depend on what Violet notices.
The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange pairs quick plots with carefully planted clues. The Senior, who heads the firm that supplies Violet’s cases, trusts her gifts but worries about the demands of her work. Behind each puzzle waits another question: why does a wealthy young woman choose such danger?
What you’ll discover
- A secret behind society manners Meet a young woman whose charm and sharp eye serve a hidden calling.
- Trouble in fine houses Enter wealthy households where a death, theft or disappearance puts family standing at risk.
- Clues worth watching Follow carefully planned puzzles that play fair while giving you reasons to keep guessing.
- A demanding partnership Watch The Senior balance faith in Violet’s abilities with concern over what he asks.
- The mystery of Violet Look beyond each case to the question of what draws her into dangerous work.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy clever puzzles in gaslit drawing rooms, warm and quick heroines, old houses with secrets, and short mysteries that each close in one sitting will find this collection a delight.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A society girl takes secret work as detective
- A missing bullet could save a widow
- One odd mark can name a murderer
- A haunted widower asks for her help
- A sleepwalker has hidden a vital will
- A girl stitches a plea for rescue
- A blind doctor confesses to murder
- A missing page threatens a wedding
- Violet's money has a reason of her own
- Violet's double life ties the nine together
Who’s who
- Violet StrangeA small, dimpled debutante who secretly solves society's mysteries for pay, and who hides her reasons from her father.
- Her employerThe unnamed head of a private agency who brings Violet mysteries requiring her intelligence, discretion, and understanding of people.
- Arthur StrangeViolet's brother, who knows her secret, goes to work himself to help her, and often escorts her to crime scenes.
- Roger UpjohnA melancholy widower from a rich Massachusetts family, who asks Violet to ease his fear about his father.
- Alicia DriscollA dignified young woman of the Inseparables, shadowed by rumor and hoping to marry the soldier she loves.
- Mrs. QuintardA trembling, forgetful sister who has lost her dead brother's will and wants to save her dying nephew's family.
- Dr. ZabriskieA gifted blind physician who insists that he has committed a murder, to the despair of his loving wife.
- Mr. Van BroecklynA pale, solitary host who has never slept away from home and guards the secret of a forbidden room.
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- Hardcover
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The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange
by Anna Katharine Green · 1915
A society belle flutters through ballrooms by night and hunts thieves and killers for a secret employer.
Medium level10–20 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
What if the cleverest detective in New York spent her evenings at the opera, chatting about hats and partners? Violet Strange does exactly that.
The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 55 min4 h 40 min fast, 7 h slow
- Length
- 83,900 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1915by Anna Katharine Green
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A society girl takes secret work as detective
The book opens at the opera, where one gentleman points out a young woman in a box and calls her his agent. She is Violet Strange, small and quick, with a comic face and a very rich father. Tonight a widower named Driscoll needs her, because slander is starting to touch his daughter Alicia.
Alicia belongs to five close friends who call themselves the Inseparables. Wherever they go, jewels and lace go missing and later come back by strange routes. People now say openly that Alicia is the thief.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1915
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Green, Anna Katharine. The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-golden-slipper-and-other-problems-for-violet-strange.
Green, A. K. (2026). The golden slipper, and other problems for Violet Strange. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-golden-slipper-and-other-problems-for-violet-strange (Original work published 1915)
Green, Anna Katharine. The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-golden-slipper-and-other-problems-for-violet-strange.
@book{green2026golden,
author = {Green, Anna Katharine},
title = {The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-golden-slipper-and-other-problems-for-violet-strange},
note = {First published 1915}
}
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What is The Golden Slipper and Other Problems for Violet Strange about?
It is a collection of nine detective stories in which a young society woman, Violet Strange, secretly solves puzzles of theft, murder, and lost papers for a private agency, while also keeping a personal secret from her father.
Who is Violet Strange?
Violet is the small, lively daughter of a wealthy New Yorker, Peter Strange. She goes to balls and teas, yet takes secret cases for money, using her charm and sharp observation to learn what police cannot.
Do the nine problems have to be read in order?
Each problem is a complete story with its own puzzle, so you can start almost anywhere. Reading in order lets you follow Violet's growing confidence, her brother Arthur's help, and her friendship with Roger Upjohn.
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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