Library of Congress Crime Classics Series

Poisoned Pen Press has partnered with the Library of Congress to present the Library of Congress Crime Classics Series. These titles have been selected from the Library's collection of hard-to-find and out-of-print books published between the 1860s and 1960s.

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That Affair Next Door by Anna Katharine Green

An accident, a suicide, or murder? Whatever the case, Miss Butterworth can crack it!

Miss Amelia Butterworth prides herself on being an observer of human nature, especially of the people she sees every day from her usual spot at her front window—that is, until she witnesses the prelude to a ghastly murder. Late at night, two people enter her neighbor's home, but only one leaves. The next morning a young woman is found dead, crushed beyond recognition beneath a cabinet. But her death was no accident—it soon comes to light that she was stabbed by a seemingly innocuous item: a hat pin.

Rife with social tension and mistaken identity, the messy case is assigned to veteran Detective Ebenezer Gryce. He expects Miss Butterworth to demurely return home, but she was there at the beginning of this case and she intends to see it through to the end. Miss Butterworth is determined to solve the mystery before the detective, but what begins as a battle of the sexes soon turns into a fight for the ever-elusive truth.

The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope by C.W Grafton

Is this lawyer digging his way to the truth, or digging his own grave?

Short, chubby, and awkward with members of the opposite sex, Gil Henry is the youngest partner in a small law firm, not a hard-boiled sleuth. So when an attractive young woman named Ruth McClure walks into his office and asks him to investigate the value of the stock she inherited from her father, he thinks nothing of it—until someone makes an attempt on his life.

Soon Gil is inadvertently embroiled in scandal, subterfuge, and murder. He’s beaten, shot, and stabbed, as his colleagues and enemies try to stop him from seeing the case through to the end. Surrounded by adversaries, he teams up with Ruth and her secretive brother to find answers to the questions someone desperately wants to keep him from asking.

In this portrait of America on the eve of America’s entry into World War II, C.W. Grafton—himself a lawyer and the father of prolific mystery writer Sue Grafton—pens an award-winning mystery that combines humor and the hard-boiled style and will keep readers guessing until its thrilling conclusion.

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Case Pending by Dell Shannon

Another murder, another unanswered question. And Detective Mendoza hates to leave things undone.

Hers was the kind of casual homicide that occurred every week in a city like Los Angeles in the sixties. Beaten, robbed, and left in an abandoned lot, Elena Ramirez’s death was like many others… in fact, nearly identical to a murder that happened six months earlier—a case that Detective Luis Mendoza was never able to solve.

The detective isn’t a fan of puzzles but knows one when he sees it. He puts two and two together—these vicious murders must have been committed by the same deranged individual—and leads the charge into a case that is astounding in its complexity. Along with the begrudging help of Detective-Sergeant Hackett, Mendoza must separate the many twisted threads of this crime—from murder to black-market adoption and extortion.

Final Proof by Rodrigues Ottolengui

Twelve mysteries, dozens of clues, and two detectives matching wits

Detective Jack Barnes is good at his job—no nonsense and thorough, his dogged nature makes him the best at what he does. Mr. Robert Leroy Mitchel is entirely different: a gentleman and an amateur sleuth, Mitchel is confident in his ability to find answers where the professionals cannot. But by choice or circumstance the two are thrown together in pursuit of the truth. Sometimes partners, often competitors, these dueling detectives tackle a slew of unsolvable cases in Gilded Age New York: a body washed up in the river after its cremation, the disappearance of a priceless emerald that leaves a trail of death in its wake, and an IOU demanding a man’s life, to name a few.

A long-neglected master of detective stories, Rodrigues Ottolengui was a gifted dentist and lover of mysteries whose work established forensic dentistry as a science and emphasized the value of evidence. Through crisp prose, captivating plot twists, and charming characters, Ottolengui’s collection of stories delves into the bizarre—sometimes dangerous, sometimes ridiculous—side of human nature.

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Last Seen Wearing by Hillary Waugh

No one saw her leave, and no one knows where she went...

It’s a perfectly typical day for Lowell Mitchell at her perfectly ordinary university in Massachusetts. She goes to class, chats with friends, and retires to her dorm room. Everything is normal until suddenly it’s not—in the blink of an eye, Lowell is gone.

Facts are everything for Police Chief Frank Ford. He’s a small-town cop, and he knows only hard evidence and thorough procedure will lead him to the truth. Together with the wise-cracking officer Burt Cameron, the grizzled chief will deal with the distraught family, chase dead-end leads, interrogate shady witnesses, and spend late nights ruminating over black coffee and cigars. Everyone tells him what a good, responsible girl Lowell is. But Ford believes that Lowell had a secret and that if he can discover it, this case will crack wide open.

Considered one of the first-ever police procedurals and hailed as a milestone, Last Seen Wearing—based on a true story—is riveting in its accurate portrayal of an official police investigation. Hillary Waugh, who earned the title of Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America, went on to create several memorable series, but this early novel ranks among his finest work. This next installment in the Library of Congress Crime Classics series will keep readers in suspense until the final page.