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Mr. Gryce #3
The Sword of Damocles: A Story of New York Life
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
554 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1881
About the author
Anna Katharine Green
554 books205 followersAnna Katharine Green (1846-1935) was an American poet and novelist. She was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories. Born in Brooklyn, New York, her early ambition was to write romantic verse, and she corresponded with Ralph Waldo Emerson. When her poetry failed to gain recognition, she produced her first and best known novel, The Leavenworth Case (1878). She became a bestselling author, eventually publishing about 40 books. She was in some ways a progressive woman for her time-succeeding in a genre dominated by male writers-but she did not approve of many of her feminist contemporaries, and she was opposed to women's suffrage. Her other works include A Strange Disappearance (1880), The Affair Next Door (1897), The Circular Study (1902), The Filigree Ball (1903), The Millionaire Baby (1905), The House in the Mist (1905), The Woman in the Alcove (1906), The House of the Whispering Pines (1910), Initials Only (1912), and The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow (1917).
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 30, 2025
Don't read this book if you are expecting one of Anna Katharine Green's Mr. Gryce detective books. I'd skip to the next Mr. Gryce book in the series. The detective, Mr. Gryce, doesn't appear in this book until you've read 3/4 of the book - and only for a few pages! When I started reading this book, I thought I was reading a detective mystery book. Instead, I got a nicely written romantic fiction book with a mystery at the end. If you want fiction, this is a good book written in the flowery and descriptive writing of the early 1900's with lovers facing many of the moral dilemmas from that era. Happy Reading! Joan
March 28, 2023
An interesting, intricate story that I'm not so sure how I feel about. I'll spoil it if I say why. Just read it and see for yourself.
February 16, 2011
Anna Katharine Green is best known for her detective stories, but she first wanted to be a poet. This book is melodramatic and overstuffed with flowery prose. There is some mystery here, but it is primarily a love story. I much prefer her logical detective work.
April 9, 2019
Not her best, very l-o-n-g but ends well and narrator is pleasantly clear.
March 11, 2018
Hopelessly befuddled mystery melodrama.
A young pianist falls in love with a rich banker's sixteen year old daughter after she requests to meet him in mildly mysterious circumstances. Her father will only let her marry someone with lots of money and, would you know it, hates music. The pianist decides to stop tickling the ivories and become a rich banker too.
But would you know more? His uncle just happens to buy a bank! How extremely convenient. Surely this would entail that he was extremely rich himself, childless too, with no-one but his nephew to bestow his wealth upon.
Green overlooked this, however, for she was taking the story somewhere else. Somewhere even worse.
Instead the uncle became the guardian of his silly wife's beautiful cousin, a beautiful young girl from the sticks. A deeper relationship forms between the two, an abrupt death is welcomed (by me too, it was the wife, one of the worst drawn characters I have ever come across) and nothing stands in their way except the skeleton in his cupboard.
I had read some of Katherine Green's shorter fiction before and don't remember finding any of to be so offensively awful, thus I made the mistake of starting this big, fat cowpat of a novel. The flowery earnestness of the atrocious dialogue near enough choked me. Oh for a few more examples like this line, which was not just bad but hilariously so:
'He had cast aside the cloak he had hugged so closely to his breast these many years, and displayed to her shrinking gaze the fox that was gnawing at his vitals; and Spartan though he was, the dew that had filled her loving eyes was balm to him.'
Never show a woman your gnawing fox.
A young pianist falls in love with a rich banker's sixteen year old daughter after she requests to meet him in mildly mysterious circumstances. Her father will only let her marry someone with lots of money and, would you know it, hates music. The pianist decides to stop tickling the ivories and become a rich banker too.
But would you know more? His uncle just happens to buy a bank! How extremely convenient. Surely this would entail that he was extremely rich himself, childless too, with no-one but his nephew to bestow his wealth upon.
Green overlooked this, however, for she was taking the story somewhere else. Somewhere even worse.
Instead the uncle became the guardian of his silly wife's beautiful cousin, a beautiful young girl from the sticks. A deeper relationship forms between the two, an abrupt death is welcomed (by me too, it was the wife, one of the worst drawn characters I have ever come across) and nothing stands in their way except the skeleton in his cupboard.
I had read some of Katherine Green's shorter fiction before and don't remember finding any of to be so offensively awful, thus I made the mistake of starting this big, fat cowpat of a novel. The flowery earnestness of the atrocious dialogue near enough choked me. Oh for a few more examples like this line, which was not just bad but hilariously so:
'He had cast aside the cloak he had hugged so closely to his breast these many years, and displayed to her shrinking gaze the fox that was gnawing at his vitals; and Spartan though he was, the dew that had filled her loving eyes was balm to him.'
Never show a woman your gnawing fox.
August 4, 2019
AKG's true mystery books are excellent. However, this is the 2nd book that's been more like a drama to me. Yes, I wondered things like how the various story lines would come together and who were the people around the woods. The only real mysterious part to me was towards the end. The only real twists were also towards the end. So, the mystery pretty much only involved the bonds. There was just a little more suspense than mystery involving the people around the woods, the older woman, the fire, & the bonds. I truly wasn't super interested in much more. Maybe I'd feel differently if I hadn't already heard so many great stories by AKG already. This is the 1st of her books that dragged in parts for me as well. Lastly, Paula loving the person she did was creepy to me. You'll understand after reading this. I don't want to write more as I don't want to spoil anything.
January 30, 2019
A love story about honour, repentance, and second chances. The mystery behind the main character's life makes the story intriguing, but I found the circumstances under which this mystery is solved too convenient for my liking. Poor description of some of the secondary characters that makes them unrealistic and a guardian-turning-to-lover situation that made me cringe.
August 14, 2018
This is my first Anna Katherine Green story. It is mostly a story of Mr. Sylvester, although it's told not from his point of view, but from the characters around him. Trapped in a loveless marriage, with a mystery of the past hanging over his head, wealthy Mr. Sylvester invites his wife's young, country cousin to visit them in the big city. He remembers when she was a 10-year-old girl, and her freshness and innocence almost drew him to better things...
October 5, 2022
[2.8 stars, it was ok, but I'm unlikely to read again]
The Sword of Damocles takes an interesting mystery short story and wraps it in layers of apparently star-crossed lovers and the result is a set of 19th century narratives of frothy elegance leading to sudden pivots in direction and in what seems almost an appendix, the detective is brought in to tie all the dangling threads together.
Not Mrs. Green at her best.
The Sword of Damocles takes an interesting mystery short story and wraps it in layers of apparently star-crossed lovers and the result is a set of 19th century narratives of frothy elegance leading to sudden pivots in direction and in what seems almost an appendix, the detective is brought in to tie all the dangling threads together.
Not Mrs. Green at her best.
November 17, 2025
This took me forever to finish... it only got interesting like 3/4 through.
Rating 1,5 stars
Rating 1,5 stars
February 2, 2021
Shoulda read the reviews on this one! Hasn't put me off of A. K. Green but certainly not one of her best.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews