The Mysteries of Violet Strange - Complete Whodunit Series in One Edition

Book excerpt: The Violet Strange Series is a collection of nine mysteries featuring Violet Strange, a debutante with a secret life as a sleuth. Table of Contents: The Golden Slipper The Second Bullet An Intangible Clue The Grotto Spectre The Dreaming Lady The House of Clocks The Doctor, His Wife, and The Clock Missing: Page Thirteen Violet's Own Anna Katharine Green (1846-1935) was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories. Green has been called "the mother of the detective novel". She is credited with shaping detective fiction into its classic form, and developing the series detective. 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.