Considered the mother of the detective story, this powerful author was the first in the mystery genre to introduce powerful methods in her books, such as expert testimony and clues and suspects making her books very popular for the mystery reader even today. This book is worthy of display and would make a fine addition to any library. It would also be a fun reader for any mystery fan. I'm so happy to see some of the great works of Anna Katherine Green; she has become one of my favorite writers, after I ran out of Christie's books to read. I found out that Agatha Christie, got into writing after reading Greens' books, who was a bestselling author who publishing about 40 books. I read she was first poet and later became a novelist to get attention to her poetry, however, she was so successful at mystery plotting, (she was an expert at the gradual unfolding of the mystery through the successful unearthing of clue after clue), that she dove right into mystery writing only. She was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing legally accurate stories, something like Law and Order in the way that the stories are accurate and sometimes based on actual cases. Her many fans besides me, include such literary luminaries as Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Mary Roberts Rinehart, and Agatha Christie. In fact, not just Christie, but Rinehart wrote that it was the novels of Anna Katharine Green which first inspired her to become writers of mystery fiction to. Just got started in this book, and already enjoying it, the detective in the story is a odd ball guy who needs money, and seems like the kind that you found in Humphrey Bogart movie. The baby is kidnapped, and ransom is demanded. It has really started well....I can't get enough Green!