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    X Y Z: A Detective Story
    X Y Z: A Detective Story
    X Y Z: A Detective Story
    Ebook71 pages1 hour

    X Y Z: A Detective Story

    By Anna Katharine Green

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    About this ebook

    Anna Katharine Green was one of the earliest detective fiction writers, and some of her mysteries remain the most popular to be written by an American.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKrill Press
    Release dateFeb 5, 2016
    ISBN9781518395949
    Author

    Anna Katharine Green

    Anna Katharine Green (1846–1935) was an American writer and prominent figure in the detective genre. Born in New York City, Green developed an affinity for literature at an early age. She studied at Ripley Female College in Vermont and was mentored by poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson. One of Green’s best-known works is The Leavenworth Case, which was published in 1878. It was a critical and commercial success that made her one of the leading voices in literature. Over the course of her career, Green would go on to write nearly 40 books.

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      Book preview

      X Y Z - Anna Katharine Green

      X Y Z: A DETECTIVE STORY

      ..................

      Anna Katharine Green

      YURITA PRESS

      Thank you for reading. In the event that you appreciate this book, please consider sharing the good word(s) by leaving a review, or connect with the author.

      This book is a work of fiction; its contents are wholly imagined.

      All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.

      Copyright © 2016 by Anna Katharine Green

      Interior design by Pronoun

      Distribution by Pronoun

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      X. Y. Z.

      I.: THE MYSTERIOUS RENDEZVOUS.

      II.: THE BLACK DOMINO.

      III.: AN UNEXPECTED CALAMITY.

      IV.: IN THE LIBRARY.

      V.: THE YELLOW DOMINO.

      X Y Z: A Detective Story

      By

      Anna Katharine Green

      X Y Z: A Detective Story

      Published by Yurita Press

      New York City, NY

      First published circa 1935

      Copyright © Yurita Press, 2015

      All rights reserved

      Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

      About YURITA Press

      Yurita Press is a boutique publishing company run by people who are passionate about history’s greatest works. We strive to republish the best books ever written across every conceivable genre and making them easily and cheaply available to readers across the world.

      X. Y. Z.

      ..................

      A STORY TOLD BY A DETECTIVE.

      I.: THE MYSTERIOUS RENDEZVOUS.

      ..................

      SOMETIMES IN THE COURSE OF his experience, a detective, while engaged in ferreting out the mystery of one crime, runs inadvertently upon the clue to another. But rarely has this been done in a manner more unexpected or with attendant circumstances of greater interest than in the instance I am now about to relate.

      For some time the penetration of certain Washington officials had been baffled by the clever devices of a gang of counterfeiters who had inundated the western portion of Massachusetts with spurious Treasury notes. Some of the best talent of the Secret Service had been expended upon the matter, but with no favorable result, when, one day, notice was received at Washington that a number of suspicious-looking letters, addressed to the simple initials, X. Y. Z., Brandon, Mass., were being daily forwarded through the mails of that region; and it being deemed possible that a clue had at last been offered to the mystery in hand, I was sent northward to investigate.

      It was in the middle of June, 1881, and the weather was simply delightful. As I stepped from the cars at Brandon and looked up the long straight street with its double row of maple trees sparkling fresh and beautiful in the noonday sun, I thought I had never seen a prettier village or entered upon any enterprise with a lighter or more hopeful heart.

      Intent on my task, I went straight to the post-office, and after coming to an understanding with the postmaster, proceeded at once to look over the mail addressed to the mysterious X. Y. Z.

      I found it to consist entirely of letters. They were about a dozen in number, and were, with one exception, similar in general appearance and manner of direction, though inscribed in widely different handwritings, and posted from various New England towns. The exception to which I allude had these few extra words written in the lower left-hand corner of the envelope: To be kept till called for. As I bundled up the letters preparatory to thrusting them back into the box, I noticed that the latter was the only one in a blue envelope, all the others being in the various shades of cream-color and buff.

      Who is in the habit of calling for these letters? I asked of the postmaster.

      Well, said he, I don’t know his name. The fact is nobody knows him around here. He usually drives up in a buggy about nightfall, calls for letters addressed to X. Y. Z., and having got them, whips up his horse and is off again before one can say a word.

      Describe him, said I.

      Well, he is very lean and very lank. In appearance he is both green and awkward. His complexion is pale, almost sickly. Were it not for his eye, which is keen and twinkling, I should call him an extremely inoffensive-looking person.

      The type was not new to me. I should like to see him, said I.

      You will have to wait till nightfall, then, returned the postmaster. He never comes till about dusk. Drop in here, say at seven o’clock, and I will see that you have the opportunity of handing him his mail.

      I nodded acquiescence to this and sauntered out of the enclosure devoted to the uses of the post-office. As I did so I ran against a young man who was hurriedly approaching from the other end of the store.

      Your pardon, he cried; and I turned to look at him, so gentlemanly was his tone, and so easy the bow with

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