About the author: Anna Katharine Green (1846 – 1935) was an American poet and novelist. She 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". (excerpt from wikipedia)
Major characters:
- Loreen Knollys, the older sister
- Lucette Knollys, the younger
- William Knollys, their brother
- Hannah, their maid/cook
- Mr. Obadiah Trohm
- Deacon Spear
- Mother Jane, an imbecile*
- Sue and Rob, two crippled* children
- Silly Rufus, disappearance #5
- Amelia Butterworth
- Detective Ebenezer Gryce
Locale: The Berkshires of western Massachusetts
Synopsis: In New York City, Detective Ebenezer Gryce mentions to Amelia Butterworth a puzzling case in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, on the Albany border - about 90 miles north of them. In a small village, four men have disappeared over the course of five years, all while walking alone along a certain country lane, now known as Lost Man's Lane.
Amelia cannot wait to go investigate, using as an excuse a visit to the daughters of her late childhood friend Althea Burroughs Knollys. Amelia arrives by train to find the two daughters, Loreen Knollys and Lucetta Knollys, living in an immense decaying mansion (A), and none too pleased with her arrival. The house is also occupied by their lazy do-nothing brother William Knollys and the maid/cook, Hannah.
At this point a map is introduced:
B - Obadiah Trohm
J - Mother Jane's shack
M - home of Rob and Sue
L - Window of the same
X - A disappearance occurred here
Gryce has told Amelia that Obadiah Trohm (B) is an ally, and is in the confidence of the police. A strange woman, Mother Jones, occupies a shack opposite (J). A fifth disappearance, that of Silly Rufus, occurs. The Knollys are intent on keeping Amelia out of the house in the daytime, suggesting something nefarious is occurring there.
Review: Well, this book has - or tries to be - everything. It is a mystery, a ghost story, a horror story, and even a romance. As I read along, more and more mysteries are introduced: missing men, a ghostly carriage which is only seen at night, a missing girl, secret passages, a coffin being snuck about. For a long time, nothing is resolved and strange things only added to the pile. A page turner for the first 2/3, but I began to wonder how all this stuff could ever be resolved.
As it turns out, the four - no, five - missing straw men only get a cursory treatment. Four are unnamed, dealt with for no apparent motive, and meet their doom in a rather silly way which is revealed - or suggested - at the end. I had expected more depth about the four missing men, but the writer let me down.
Mother Jones is an interesting character and perhaps the best one in the book.
A big deal is made of William Knolly's penchant for vivisection, but fortunately, no details of this are provided and this story line is dropped midway.
The surprising turn at the end attempts to make this a love story (but not for Amelia, who even gets proposed to by two different suitors), and we wind up with a wedding and everybody happy.
*here I am using the language of the writer, noting it is not acceptable usage today.
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