My New Favorite Author

01/18/2006

The latest author to peak my interest is Anna Katharine Green. She was a highly successful American author and is credited with being "The Mother of The Detective Novel".

What was the meandering path that brought me to her literary door.... Ah yes, the Audible** book, "A Century of Great Suspense Stories" edited by Jeffery Deaver.

(Side note on this book: The original print version of this title has twice the number of stories as the audio version. And it was not my favorite "read"; Deaver's notion of what makes a "great suspense story" differs significantly from mine. However it did introduce me to a couple new authors, one being Anna Katharine Green.)

Onward.

After hearing the short story, "Missing: Page Thirteen", I sought out more of her work and discovered, also at Audible**, "Mystery Stories of Violet Strange". Thoroughly enjoyed that one. It's a period piece, of course. Part of the fun is to immerse in the culture and conventions of the time it was written. I shall revisit this one in the future.

On my desktop is an index to Project Gutenberg listings. "Perhaps," I say to myself, "because the lady wrote so long ago, some of her work is in the public domain and has been included in this marvelous collection!" Fortuitous thought; several of her writings are indeed available from Project Gutenberg.

I shall have to forego knitting to enjoy them; this is the specific reason for seeking out audio books. I am not among the talented folk who can knit without watching the needles.

But I shall do so. The discovery of an enjoyable author is nothing to be lightly passed over.

**Should you decide to join Audible, would you tell them "marybontrager" sent you? They just might give me a free book!