That Affair Next Door
Miss Amelia Butterworth doesn't mind being unmarried at forty. She has her townhouse, her routines, and most importantly, her sharp eyes and sharper mind. When she notices unusual activity at the neighboring Van Burnam mansion on a warm summer night, she investigates, only to discover the body of a young woman beneath a fallen cabinet. What follows is a meticulously plotted mystery that established Anna Katharine Green as a master of the form. As Amelia inserts herself into the investigation, braving the skepticism of police who underestimate a spinster's insights, she peels back layers of respectable society to reveal secrets someone killed to protect. Green piles clue upon clue in a puzzle that seems impossibly complex, then explains everything with satisfying, mathematical precision. This is detective fiction in its charming, proper, devious adolescence, and Miss Butterworth remains an irresistible force: a woman who refuses to be overlooked in a world determined to overlook her.
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“Though I have had no adventures, I feel capable of them.””
— Anna Katharine Green
“It would never do for me to lose my wits in the presence of a man who had none too many of his own.””
— Anna Katharine Green
“I am a comfortable sort of person when alone, and found no difficulty in passing this time profitably. Being very orderly, as you must have remarked, I have everything at hand for making myself a cup of tea at any time of day or night;””
— Anna Katharine Green
“A maiden-woman, as independent as myself, need not envy any girl the doubtful blessing of a husband. I chose to be independent, and I am, and what more is there to be said about it?””
— Anna Katharine Green
