Anna Katharine Green

Anna Katharine Green (November 11, 1846 – April 11, 1935) was an American poet and novelist. She was one of the first authors of detective fiction in the United States and distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories.

Life and work Green was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 11, 1846.

On November 25, 1884, Green married the actor and later noted furniture maker, Charles Rohlfs. 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.

Green died on April 11, 1935, in Buffalo, New York, at the age of 88. Her husband died the following year.

Critical response Though Green's book The Leavenworth Case is frequently cited as the first mystery written by an American woman, The Dead Letter by Seeley Regester was published earlier (1866).

Green is credited with shaping detective fiction into its classic form, and developing the series detective. Her main character was detective Ebenezer Gryce of the New York Metropolitan Police Force, but in three novels he is assisted by the nosy society spinster Amelia Butterworth, the prototype for Miss Marple, Miss Silver and other creations. She also invented the 'girl detective': in the character of Violet Strange, a debutante with a secret life as a sleuth. Indeed, as journalist Kathy Hickman writes, Green "stamped the mystery genre with the distinctive features that would influence writers from Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle to contemporary authors of suspenseful "whodunits". In addition to creating elderly spinster and young female sleuths, Green's innovative plot devices included dead bodies in libraries, newspaper clippings as "clews", the coroner's inquest, and expert witnesses. Yale Law School once used her books to demonstrate how damaging it can be to rely on circumstantial evidence. Written in 1878, her first book, The Leavenworth Case: A Lawyer's Story, sparked a debate in the Pennsylvania State Senate over whether the book could "really have been written by a woman".

Legacy 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.

Selected works

Detective and mystery novels

The Leavenworth Case (1878) "The Old Stone House" "A Memorable Night" "The Black Cross" "A Mysterious Case" "Shall He Wed Her?" A Difficult Problem: The Staircase at the Heart's Delight, and Other Stories (1900) featuring: "A Difficult Problem" (1900) "The Grey Madam" (1899) "The Bronze Hand" (1897) "Midnight in Beauchamp Row" (1895) "The Staircase at the Hearts delight" (1894) "The Hermit of ― Street" (1898) Room Number 3, and Other Detective stories (1913) featuring: "Room Number 3" "Midnight in Beauchamp Row" "The Ruby and the Caldron" "The Little Steel Coils" "The Staircase at Heart's Delight" "The Amethyst Box" "The Grey Lady" "The Thief" "The House in the Mist" Masterpieces of Mystery (1913) Short story collection. The stories are also collected in Room number 3 and A Difficult Problem. The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange (1915) featuring: "The Golden Slipper" "The Second Bullet" "The Intangible Clew" "The Grotto Spectre" "The Dreaming Lady" "The House of Clocks" "The Doctor, His Wife, and the Clock" *shorter version of the novella. "Missing: Page Thirteen" "Violet's Own"