This book was first published in 1897 so it’s an early detective novel but well worth reading if you enjoy that sort of thing, which I do. I downloaded this one from girlebooks.

Miss Butterworth is a genteel and fairly well-heeled spinster of the parish of Granmercy Park in New York and she likes to keep an eye on the movements of her neighbours. (Who does that remind me of?!) When she sees a couple entering a house across the road very late at night she wonders what’s going on. She knows that the house owner is away and the house is empty.

In the morning she forces a policeman to enter the house and they discover the body of a young woman under a large cabinet. Who is she? Is it murder or suicide?

Miss Butterworth has no great faith in the detective who is investigating the case, Mr Gryce, and she determines to carry our her own inquiries.

There are lots of twists and turns in this book to keep you interested and there’s humour too in the character of Miss Amelia Butterworth. I can’t help thinking that Agatha Christie probably read this book and came up with her English spinster, Miss Marple as a consequence. I hope to read more books by Anna Katharine Green.