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The Chief Legatee
Paperback
Publisher: Indoeuropeanpublishing.com
Published: May 28 2025
Pages: 120
Weight: 0.34
Height: 0.30 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
The Chief Legatee is a mystery novel written by Anna Katharine Green, often referred to as the mother of the detective novel. Published in 1906, this book is part of her extensive body of work that helped shape the early detective fiction genre.
The story revolves around a mysterious inheritance and a sudden disappearance. When a wealthy man dies, his will names an unexpected chief legatee (primary heir), sparking intrigue and suspicion. Soon after, a young woman-connected to the inheritance-vanishes under strange circumstances.
Enter Detective Ebenezer Gryce, one of Green's recurring characters, who must untangle a web of deception, hidden identities, and family secrets. The investigation leads through twists involving a shipwreck, a doppelgänger, and a dramatic courtroom scene.
Like many of Green's works, it relies on logical deduction rather than pure coincidence.
Green often featured strong female characters, and this book includes women who defy societal expectations.
About the Author
Anna Katharine Green (November 11, 1846 - April 11, 1935) was an American poet and novelist. She was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories. Green has been called the mother of the detective novel.
Green was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 11, 1846. She had an early ambition to write romantic verse and corresponded with Ralph Waldo Emerson. When her poetry failed to gain recognition, she produced her first and best known novel, The Leavenworth Case (1878), praised by Wilkie Collins, and the hit of the year. She became a bestselling author, eventually publishing 37 books over 40 years.
On November 25, 1884, Green married the actor and stove designer, and later noted furniture maker, Charles Rohlfs (1853 - 1936). Rohlfs toured in a dramatization of Green's The Leavenworth Case. After his theater career faltered, he became a furniture maker in 1897, and Green collaborated with him on some of his designs. Together they had one daughter and two sons: Rosamund Rohlfs, Roland Rohlfs, and Sterling Rohlfs. Her daughter Rosamund married Robert Twitty Palmer.
Green died on April 11, 1935, in Buffalo, New York, at the age of 88. Her husband died the following year.
In 2002, Buffalo Literary Walking Tours began an annual series of weekend walking tours highlighting authors with local connections. Green is included along with Mark Twain, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Herman Melville, Taylor Caldwell, and others.
Green's short story The Intangible Clue featuring Violet Strange was adapted by Chris Harrald for the second series of BBC Radio 4's drama series The Rivals and starred Jeany Spark as Violet Strange. (wikipedia.org)
14 different editions
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