Dr Izard

by Anna Katharine Green

By a mysterious contrivance, penniless and parentless Polly Earle has become an heiress with $20,000. (A respectable little fortune in 1895, when DOCTOR IZARD was published). Raised by kind neighbors in a village in Massachusetts, Polly is now eighteen and a beauty.

Her happiness seems assured. But there are ominous questions in the background. What made her father disappear so abruptly when Polly was four years old? Is there a mystery about her mother's death as well? Why does Polly's friend Doctor Izard avoid village society? And who is that sinister old tramp hanging around town, saying nothing and observing everything?

Genres: Mystery, Classics, Fiction

ebook

First published January 1, 1895

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. Born in Brooklyn, New York, her early ambition was to write romantic verse, and she corresponded with Ralph Waldo Emerson. When her poetry failed to gain recognition, she produced her first and best known novel, The Leavenworth Case (1878). She became a bestselling author, eventually publishing about 40 books. She was in some ways a progressive woman for her time-succeeding in a genre dominated by male writers-but she did not approve of many of her feminist contemporaries, and she was opposed to women's suffrage. Her other works include A Strange Disappearance (1880), The Affair Next Door (1897), The Circular Study (1902), The Filigree Ball (1903), The Millionaire Baby (1905), The House in the Mist (1905), The Woman in the Alcove (1906), The House of the Whispering Pines (1910), Initials Only (1912), and The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow (1917).

Reviews

[Katja Labonté · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. This was an interesting tale. The beginning was particularly attention-catching! The characters were interesting, although I didn’t get very attached to any, and the twist at the end was certainly unexpected. I did figure out some of the mystery but it was still breathtakingly hooking. Better review + quotes to come upon reread.

[Richard · Rating 1 out of 5]

Anna Katherine Green haas been highly praised as "the mother of the detective novel". She was a best-seller in her day and her female sleuth, Amelia Butterworth, became a progenitor of other later female detectives such as Miss Marple.

"Dr Izard", however, must be one of her poorer efforts. It isn't a detective story but rather a clumsily plotted Victorian pulp melodrama with cardboard characters. The hero is completely one-dimensional and the Doctor is a pallid Byronic creation. One would expect a female novelist to create a reasonably believable heroine, but Polly is just a clinging-vine stereotype.

Green fails to give her cast any inner life, primarily because she spends a good deal of time editorialising and talking about her characters, She tells rather than shows. Thus we frequently find ourselves on the receiving end of paragraphs of moralising by the author.

I would like to try another novel of Anna Katherine Green and I hope that her more well-known novels are more enjoyable . Unfortunately, this work doesn't make me sanguine.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rather mediocre offering from "the mother of detective fiction". I would venture to guess that, with this novel, the author was trying her hand at "sensation fiction". If so, she wisely chose to revert to detective stories; this novel does not measure up to the likes of Wilkie Collins or Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

[Eleanor · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not surprised that this book is not more generally available, though others by this author are. It is dreadfully clunky and the writing style is almost indescribably bad. I don't know if Green's other books are any better, but based on this one, I doubt I shall be finding out any time soon.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, that was just silly. And stupid. I like turn-of-the-last-century novels, but this one was dreadful, poorly written and ridiculously plotted, without redeeming characterizations or narrative flow.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary (Polly) Earle's mother passed away and then her father disappeared when she was very young. Now many years later being "of age" and after not having any money of her own during her youth, she is willed quite a large sum of money. Who willed that money and why?

Of course there is a mystery surrounding the happenings years ago in this small town in Massachusetts!

Another Anna Katharine Green book I just could not put down!

Only place I could find this in an e-book was at Google books.

[Sunidhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

all anna katherine books are 5 stars for me , dr. izard i must admit was exactly as good as her other books , I don't really understand why people don't know of her , dr. izard , the way he was described in the start of the book , it reminded me of carlisle cullen , all in all a great book

[Mark Rabideau · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book. Although it runs (feels) a bit slower than other Anna Katherine Green novels I have read, this one ends with a bang. As is always the case with Ms. Green's novels, this tale is interesting, well written, peopled and plotted.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of her best books but well worth the listen to on LibriVox