Mother of detective fiction no stranger to crime
Yesterday, we had a glimpse into the life of Edgar Allan Poe, the father of detective fiction. Anna Katharine Green was Poe's female counterpart.
The mother of detective fiction was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1846. As the daughter of a well-known trial lawyer in Manhattan, Green was no stranger to crime. Actually she acquired much knowledge of the law and forensic police procedures when she was young. As a child she was often in the company of attorneys specialising in criminal law, judges and police chiefs when they were discussing their cases.
At that time, men and women were not truly equal. Only a few colleges accepted women. Green's father was a strong patriarch, but she was lucky enough to get a good education.
Green first started writing poetry, of which her father approved, while secretly penning detective fiction.
The Leavenworth Case was published in 1878. It was an overnight success and was even used at Yale University to demonstrate the fallacy of circumstantial evidence.
Green was highly praised for the mastery of legal points in her writing. She was also one of the earliest writers to present female detectives.
In The Second Bullet, Green's heroine, detective Violet Strange, was faced with a mystery. Two bodies, those of George Hammond and his baby, had been discovered. Witnesses said there had been two shots, but only one bullet was recovered by the police.
Another fact that complicated the investigation was Hammond's life insurance policy. If Hammond were murdered, his wife would inherit the money. If he had committed suicide, his widow would not get anything. Did the second bullet ever exist? Where was it? Green included every little detail to arouse readers' interest in the story.
Green enjoyed almost 25 years as a best-selling author. She died at the age of 88 in 1935.
