The Circular Study

Description

Often called “the mother of the detective novel”, Anna Katharine Green has contributed immensely to the detective novel as we know it today, and The Circular Study is certainly one of her masterpieces. Green’s works were major inspiration for Agatha Christie herself, so reading this great detective novel will surely delight Christie fans as well.

The Circular Study is, beyond doubt, a typical Victorian story. We have the typical detective, Ebeneezer Gryce of New York Metropolitan Police Force, a self-proclaimed master of the art of deduction, aided by Amelia Butterworth, a cultivated and nosy spinster – the forerunner of so many perfectly penned amateur detectives, Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple included. The Circular Study is actually the third and last of Green’s novels that features Amelia Butterworth – the other novels by Green have different detectives – her character adding a distinct color to all the three books.

The story itself is masterfully written as well – it comes in several different forms including a diary, letters and narrative. The murder mystery that the two detectives are bound to unravel is bizarre and the investigation moves into the wrong direction multiple times before the mystery is solved. The plot unfolds gradually, captivating the reader’s attention with lots of detours – one clue after another are discovered and made sense of, until all the pieces in the puzzle are put together to give the final picture and to solve the case.

Anna Katherine Green is well-known not only for having a talent for writing narratives, but also for the legal accuracy of her stories. She very often used real stories as starting points and inspiration for her novels and she had extensive legal knowledge as well, and this combination of precision, storytelling ability and creativity give Green’s books a special and unique character.
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