The Mayor's Wife

by Anna Katharine Green

Anna Katharine Green (1846 – 1935) was an American writer best known for detective fiction. Green is considered the mother of the detective novel and wrote some of the most famous works in crime fiction before Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes stories were published. This edition of Green’s The Mayor’s Wife includes a table of contents.

Genres: Mystery, Classics, Mystery Thriller

200 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1907

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

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently bought this book and could not put it down. The narrator is hired by the mayor of her town to become a companion to his wife, who has recently become haunted by some great fear. He asks that she attempt also to discover what is troubling his wife so he can mend it, if possible. Usually I am good at guessing mysteries, but this one baffled me right to the end. Highly recommended!

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting mystery, but not a murder mystery. It also doesn’t involve any standard detectives/police. In this case, a young woman is hired by the town’s Mayor to learn what has caused his wife’s sudden change of demeanor.

Mayor Packard and his wife live in a rented house that has a history of strange occurences. Prior tenants have left abruptly and they don’t wish to talk about the possibility they have been living in a haunted house. But this becomes less a ghost story and one of unraveling other histories.

I have enjoyed Anna Katharine Green in the past, but this was so far off her usual I couldn’t warm to it. It was definitely readable enough for 3-stars, but sits in the bottom quarter of that group.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never expected that a novel written in 1907 could be a page-turner, but this was!

The Mayor is running for Governor and his wife is troubled about something but he doesn't know what. He hires a companion for her, and asks the companion to help him get to the bottom of it...and the answer is a twist I didn't see coming.

This story also involves a haunted house, lost money, kooky old sisters living next door, secret rooms and a secret code. It felt like I was reading an adult version of my favorite childhood series Nancy Drew!

What made it even better was I read the original 1907 copy, which was a gift given to me from my brother (as a kind of inside joke), several years ago. Just picturing the people who may have held this book and read it for the last 109 years made my experience of reading it incredibly atmospheric.

As a side note...I also learned that in some ways, political campaigns of the early 1900s were not much different from campaigns of today :(

This counts towards the Read Harder Challenge I'm participating in: Read a book about politics, fiction or nonfiction.

[Roberto Rho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un giallo non scontato, sembra un horror, e invece...

[Perry Whitford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Miss Saunders, a discreet domestic spy of some kind, is hired by Mayor Packard to look after his unaccountably abstracted wife whilst he goes out of town for a fortnight.

The house the couple have been renting during the mayor's election push is reputed to be haunted. Its past contains the story of a death and a lost fortune, while recent tenants have left in a hurry after reporting strange disturbances.

Anna Katherine Green was a 19th century innovator of the mystery novel. Having read one of her short stories recently and been fairly impressed I was determined to try one of her longer works at some point.

I think I may have chosen the wrong one. Really two mysteries conjoined by the kind of outrageous coincidence commonplace in 19th century literature, 'The Mayor's Wife' was mediocre and disappointing.

Well written, but the mysteries themselves and their eventual resolutions are really tame, with only a clever cipher inspired by Poe's story 'The Gold-Bug' worthy of any comment.

[Elena Santangelo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A typical Gothic mystery, complete with companion hired to stay with nervous wife in her husband's absence, all in a mysterious old house. It can't quite be called romantic suspense, but leans that way. For the most part the voice and style of this novel are very reader-friendly. I listened to an audiobook version, though there is a graphic cipher and it helps to see it. Fortunately, if you do go the audiobook route, you can find a copy of this book online and look up those pages.

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Up until the last few chapters I was prepared to give this book four stars. Unfortunately, I didn't care much for the plot resolution, myself. It is a good read nonetheless. Additionally, AKG's influence on Agatha Christie's style is quite apparent, which I found to be a special treat!

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Missing money, strange old neighbor ladies, servants and politics, and secret ccodes. Not my favorite of Anna Katherine Green, but not too bad.

[Amy Beck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Woman assigned to care for mayors wife. Two odd old ladies next door. House haunted. Turns out mayors wife had married their nephew when she was sixteen and run away. Too unrealistic.

[MarilynLovesNature · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very favorite of all AKG mysteries. An unusual plot. I enjoyed the characters of Mrs. butterworth and Detective Gryce.

[Lori Killion · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to really enjoy a book to give it 5 stars. I didn't just enjoy this. I loved it! So many mysteries (while good) have murder, a detective, & sometimes someone who is not a detective but wants to act like one but not this story. Even though I couldn't understand how the cipher worked (it was explained well but I'd need to see it) I was interested & in suspense from beginning to end. As usual with AKG books there's more than just one mystery/storyline going on yet it's easy to keep track of each of them & all of the characters.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Saunders is offered the position of companion to Mrs Olympia Packard, the mayor's wife as he will be travelling for the next few weeks. It seems that someone or something has disturbed the mind of Mrs Packard and it is hoped Miss Saunders will determine the cause.
An entertaining mystery
Originally published in 1907

[Jennifer Booth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok

I was reading this book. It was ok🤔. The cryptic message with some ideA of what was going on made decent.

[Ro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book. Kept my interest from start to finish.

[Melissa Goodnight · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It was way more interesting than I thought it would be, since it was printed so long ago. But it’s definitely fantastic and I would urge anyone to read it!!!

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This plotting felt really clever. Maybe a sharper person would guess all, but I sure didn’t. Really enjoyed this one.

[Tasos · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Mark Rabideau · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a typically delightful, entertaining Anna Katherine Greene Mystery. There are more twists and turns in this plot line than most of her tales. This one has enough to make a person dizzy.

[Joanne]

4.5

[Lia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was all right albeit a little too fond of theatrics. I must have missed a cue somewhere too because up until the end I imagined the wife as older but she was just a baby 😭

[Kay Robart · Rating 3 out of 5]

See my review here:

https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2022...