User:Fesp123/The Leavenworth Case

The Leavenworth Case (1878), subtitled A Lawyer's Story, is an American detective novel and the first novel by Anna Katharine Green. Set in New York City, it concerns the murder of a retired merchant, Horatio Leavenworth, in his New York mansion. The popular novel introduced the detective Ebenezer Gryce, and was influential in the development of the detective novel. In her autobiography, Agatha Christie cited it as an influence on her own fiction.

Plot Summary
The novel begins when a wealthy retired merchant named Horatio Leavenworth is shot and killed in his library. When investigator Ebenezer Gryce and lawyer Everett Raymond look into the case, it is revealed that no one could have left the Manhattan Mansion before the body was discovered the next day. As the story progresses, Leavenworth’s orphaned cousins Mary and Eleanore, Hannah the maid, and a mysterious gentleman who appears on the scene all factor into the investigation.

Reception
The Leavenworth Case was an immediate bestseller, making Green famous. It was popular both in America and in Europe, and according to one critic, it was popular among different age ranges and genders. The novel seems to have accrued generally positive reviews. Green’s New York Times obituary calls The Leavenworth Case her most famous novel, and claimed after the author’s death in 1935 that many copies were sold and that it was still popular. Despite its initial popularity, however, The Leavenworth Case (and the rest of Green’s work) is largely forgotten today.

In order to publish the novel, Green had to write secretly and then read what she had written to Rossiter Johnson who then notified George Putnam to publish. The book was an instant success, and was so popular that it began to be pirated in England. Three different publishers (Alexander Strahan, Ward, Lock & Co. and George Routledge & Sons) pirated the book in 1884, and this continued to be a problem throughout Green’s career.

Adaptations
Green adapted the novel into a play first performed in 1891. A later revival of the play starred Green's husband Charles Rohlfs.

The story was filmed in movies of the same name in 1923 and 1936.