The Holladay Case: A Tale

The murder of a Wall Street magnate. A daughter accused of killing her own father. In 1903, Burton Egbert Stevenson crafted a courtroom thriller that pulses with old money, old secrets, and the terrible mathematics of inheritance. Hiram W. Holladay lies dead in his office, and all evidence points to his daughter Frances. She was there that night. She has no alibi. The newspapers have already tried and convicted her. But attorney Mr. Royce sees something the headlines miss: a desperate woman, yes, but not necessarily a murderer. As he digs into the Holladay family's gilded facade, he finds debts, betrayals, and a family tree rooted in something far darker than stock tickers. This is early American mystery at its most propulsive: less forensic procedure, more psychological chess. Stevenson writes with sharp attention to the courtroom's theater and the way guilt shifts depending on who holds the gavel. Perfect for fans of turn-of-the-century detection and anyone who wants to see the seeds of what the genre would become.