eh ( )

Plot twists up until practically the last page! Frederick is suspected, but did he do it? ( )

It’s a little melodramatic. The women are either evil temptresses or pure as snow. The hero is given to sinful excesses, which are never quite named, until he is reformed. But, hey, it was first published in 1899. Anna Katherine Green is considered very influential in the development of the detective fiction genre, and her modest but clever hero here gets into a lot of trouble (including being thrown overboard in the middle of the ocean) before he finally solves the case.

It’s a fun read. I certainly didn’t guess the solution, which is improbable, unexpected and as melodramatic as the rest of the book.
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