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That Affair Next Door by Anna Katharine Green

by Loyal Books

A perplexing mystery novel published in 1897, That Affair Next Door focuses on a mysterious murder that has occurred in a quiet neighborhood, incidentally in the house next door to the home of the curious Miss Butterworth. Consequently, the middle-aged spinster becomes directly involved in the unraveling of the gruesome crime, instigated by her inquisitive and resolute nature.The story sets into motion with the introduction of its protagonist, Miss Amelia Butterworth, an admirable woman in her fifties, who has never experienced the doubtful bliss of marriage, but nevertheless is quite contempt with her respected status in the inner circle of New York society and her comfortable home. Furthermore, she is characterized by her inquisitive nature, which she denies being nosiness, but rather explains that she is simply an observer of human nature. Such an observation is made late one evening when Miss Butterworth notices a man and woman enter the supposedly empty house next door, whose ow