The Chief Legatee by Anna Katherine Green: A Review by Warren Bull

The Chief Legatee by Anna Katherine Green: A Review by Warren Bull

     Anna Katherine Green is considered the mother of American crime fiction. She is credited with 

writing the first American detective novel, The Leavenworth Case. She lived until age 88 and was a 

prolific writer throughout her adult life. She wrote more than thirty novels and many pieces of short 

fiction.

     I have been reading mysteries written in the early 1900s. The Chief Legatee was published in 1906

Unlike The Hollow Needle, no character makes long, impassioned speeches about his own brilliance. 

Unlike The Profiteers, the protagonist faces reverses as well as success. There are surprises in The 

Chief Legatee. The language is more like contemporary language, i.e., less stilted, although it

 contains what we would consider some “purple prose.”

     The Chief Legatee is an interesting read for any time. It starts with the disappearance of a woman 

on her wedding day. She disappears shortly after the ceremony. It is soon determined that she 

designed and carried out the vanishing act. Her new husband reports that while walking down the 

aisle to leave the church about halfway down she suddenly gripped his arm and looked startled. 

During the reception, a man with a disfigured face whispered something to her that left her pale and 

uneasy.

     The husband also relates that she asked for a change in plans, requesting a few quiet days in a 

hotel before they start their planned honeymoon trip. She then also asks for her husband to refrain 

from speaking to her in the taxi to the hotel. He is surprised and a bit concerned but he complies with

 her request. Once in the hotel she disappears, seemingly into thin air.Eventually the husband receives

 a note from his wife avowing her love, but also telling him she cannot return until something is

 accomplished. She cannot tell him the reason for her actions.

     The novel plays fair with the reader. Some plot devices may seem clichéd to a contemporary 

reader, but I believe they were fresh and unexpected when the book was written.

     Having read a few novels written about the time The Chief Legatee was published, I was 

pleasantly surprised by the good writing, surprises and the originality in the novel. The author’s star 

has dimmed, but I recommend The Chief Legatee. The author should be read and remembered more 

often.