Lost Man’s Lane
The spinster sleuth Amelia Butterworth returns for a second case, and this time Anna Katharine Green sends her out of the city onto a shadowed country road where travelers keep vanishing. At the urging of the veteran detective Gryce, Amelia takes lodging with an eccentric family whose gloomy house sits at the heart of the trouble, and she uses her sharp eye and unimpeachable social standing to gather what a professional man never could. Green paired her amateur and her professional detectives to fine effect, letting Butterworth’s nerve and wit carry a genuinely eerie plot. The result is an early portrait of the woman investigator who would later fill so much of mystery fiction. Free to download as a PDF and EPUB edition.
About the Author
Anna Katharine Green (1846-1935) was an American novelist often called the mother of detective fiction. Her bestselling debut, The Leavenworth Case, brought realism and legal detail to the genre, and over a long career she created recurring sleuths who influenced writers from Conan Doyle to…
See all books by Anna Katharine Green →
Listen to Lost Man’s Lane Audiobook Free
Listen to Lost Man’s Lane by Anna Katharine Green free online. The full audiobook (10 hr 49 min, 41 chapters, read by Mary Bard) streams free on this page.
Lost Man’s Lane (1898) is a public domain work.
| # | Chapter | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A visit from Mr. Gryce | 7:01 | |
| 2 | I am tempted | 24:15 | |
| 3 | I succumb | 24:27 | |
| 4 | A ghostly interior | 11:44 | |
| 5 | A strange household | 13:20 | |
| 6 | A sombre evening | 8:18 | |
| 7 | The first night | 13:33 | |
| 8 | On the stairs | 7:31 | |
| 9 | A new acquaintance | 16:35 | |
| 10 | Secret instructions | 11:49 | |
| 11 | Men, women, and ghosts | 21:59 | |
| 12 | The phantom coach | 18:20 | |
| 13 | Gossip | 10:07 | |
| 14 | I forget my age, or, rather, remember it | 21:56 | |
| 15 | Lucetta fulfils my expectation of her | 10:38 | |
| 16 | Loreen | 16:54 | |
| 17 | The flower parlor | 20:57 | |
| 18 | The second night | 23:12 | |
| 19 | A knot of crape | 12:11 | |
| 20 | Questions | 8:55 | |
| 21 | Mother Jane | 12:02 | |
| 22 | The third night | 20:41 | |
| 23 | Room 3, Hotel Carter | 19:52 | |
| 24 | The enigma of numbers | 20:16 | |
| 25 | Trifles, but not trifling | 8:34 | |
| 26 | A point gained | 12:52 | |
| 27 | The text witnesseth | 6:17 | |
| 28 | An intrusion | 8:11 | |
| 29 | In the cellar | 9:48 | |
| 30 | Investigation | 7:08 | |
| 31 | Strategy | 19:58 | |
| 32 | Relief | 7:47 | |
| 33 | Lucetta | 35:07 | |
| 34 | Conditions | 4:25 | |
| 35 | The dove | 12:39 | |
| 36 | An hour of startling experiences | 39:52 | |
| 37 | I astonish Mr. Gryce and he astonishes me | 8:55 | |
| 38 | A few words | 5:46 | |
| 39 | Under a crimson sky | 25:53 | |
| 40 | Explanations | 16:06 | |
| 41 | Epilogue | 42:43 |
Prefer reading? Read Lost Man’s Lane online free or download the PDF and EPUB above.
