The Amelia Butterworth Mysteries

By: Anna Katharine Green

Narrated by: Cate Barratt, Terah Tucker, Lee Ann Howlett

The Amelia Butterworth Mysteries by Anna Katharine Green

Anna Katharine Green (1846-1935) was one of the first writers of detective fiction and a major precursor of more celebrated female crime writers like Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers.

She composed more than 30 major crime novels, her prime detective characters being policemen Ebenezer Gryce and Caleb Sweetwater and amateur sleuths Amelia Butterworth and Violet Strange.

The Amelia Butterworth Mysteries is a series of three novels featuring Amelia Butterworth teaming up with Ebenezer Gryce. Miss Butterworth is a nosy high-society lady whose wealth and lack of family give her plenty of free time in which to solve several Victorian-era crimes.

That Affair Next Door - narrated by Cate Barratt

Lost Man's Lane - narrated by Terah Tucker

The Circular Study - narrated by Lee Ann Howlett

Public Domain (P)2021 Voices of Today

great story but

great story, interesting characters, but really stilted, one dimensional narration. hard to tell characters apart and generally very flat.

Entertaining Turn-of-the-Century Mysteries

Anna Katherine Green (1846-1935) was among the first authors of the modern "detective story", and had a reputation for writing legally accurate fiction. Her works were justly popular, and will be excellent reading for those who appreciate novels with the particular mores of the late 19th Century.

(Note: Three Amelia Butterworth stories are collected together in this one Audible title. The narration is just okay, but the quality of the books made it worth the price.)

That Affair Next Door (1897)
In this, the first of the Amelia Butterworth mysteries, she notices an odd occurrence at the most respectable house next door. Investigation reveals that a young woman has been murdered in a mysterious manner. Miss Butterworth, certain that the Police Detective (Green's often-returning Mr. Gryce) has arrested the wrong man, sets out to solve the problem herself. As a high-society spinster, she has advantages that the police do not, and makes some surprising discoveries.

Miss Butterworth is quite an enjoyable narrator, and is written with a delightful sly humor. The writing is good, the mystery intelligent, and the crime well-plotted. Overall, it's an enormously fun and engaging read.

Lost Man's Lane (1898)
When multiple disappearances occur in a town with personal connections for Miss Butterworth, Mr. Gryce, a New York City Police Detective and friend, requests her assistance. She makes a visit there to secretly investigate the lane in question, and in doing so discovers more mystery than she solves.

This is another completely enjoyable tale featuring these two characters. Green's writing is genuinely witty and amusing, the story extremely interesting, and mystery quite twisty. While the means and motive were not fully credible, it was still a most entertaining story.

The Circular Study (1900)
When a man is found murdered in his study, New York City Police Detective Ebenezer Gryce works to solve the crime. Miss Amelia Butterworth, society spinster and sometime amateur sleuth offers unexpected and valuable clues in what turns out to be a tragic story of revenge.

This mystery/melodrama is much darker and more serious than the two previous novels in which Miss Butterworth appears. She only features peripherally and does not narrate this story; as such, it lacks the charm and humor of those prior books. It more than makes up for it, however, with a well-written twisty plot, and a dose of sensationalism worth of Wilkie Collins himself. Again, it won't appeal universally, as one must be able to appreciate Victorian-style literature to enjoy it. I, myself, found it both gripping and satisfying.

Stilted voice acting

I have always liked Anna K. Green’s stories, and these are no exception. The only drawback for me was the stilted voice acting that sometimes distracted me from the narrative. I think I’d listen again in the future, though.