The Crevice

Isabel OstranderProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 513K words
Chapters: 52

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Crevice by William J. Burns and Isabel OstranderAuthor: Ostrander, Isabel, 1883-1924,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jul 6, 2009

Editor's review

The Crevice is a typical early-20th-century American popular detective novel born of collaboration: William J. Burns, a criminal investigation expert, and Isabel Ostrander, a prolific mystery writer, joined forces to bring the practical feel of case investigation into fictional narrative. The novel revolves around a mystery involving wealth and identity, moves at a brisk pace, and tightens its clues layer by layer, retaining both the intellectual pleasure of Golden Age detective fiction and the gritty texture of early urban crime narrative. Ostrander's writing excels at building suspense and character confrontation, while Burns's professional background lends credibility to the investigative details. As a free Project Gutenberg ebook, it serves as a sample for understanding the evolution of early American detective fiction and as lightweight English reading for a commute or short holiday. Readers should not expect literary depth or social critique; treat it as a well-structured, highly readable genre novel. The English is of moderate difficulty; some early usage and pacing may feel slightly alien to beginners.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Genre readers who enjoy Golden Age British and American detective fiction
English learners who want to practice reading with free English originals
Readers studying early American popular literature and the evolution of detective narrative
Readers who need a light suspense story for a commute or short holiday

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting serious literary depth or social critique
Beginners impatient with early English usage and narrative pacing
Readers who prefer modern psychological thrillers or hardboiled style

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters first to sort out the characters and the core of the case, then proceed chapter by chapter without looking up every word.
Keep a chart of characters and clues as you read; it helps you appreciate the puzzle structure of detective fiction.
If the English is hard going, read a Chinese translation first for the plot, then return to the original to feel the rhythm of the language.
After finishing, compare it with detective novels of the same era and consider how Burns's investigative background affects the narrative's credibility

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a standalone story or part of a series?

According to available information, The Crevice is a standalone detective novel co-authored by Isabel Ostrander and William J. Burns; the materials do not show it belongs to a series. Readers can read it on its own without prior knowledge of other works.

How difficult is the English, and is it suitable for beginners?

The work dates from the early 20th century. The language is generally fluent but includes early English usage and long sentences, placing it at roughly upper-intermediate difficulty. Readers with some vocabulary can finish it with a dictionary; beginners are better advised to start with a Chinese translation or a bilingual edition to avoid stalling on too many unfamiliar words.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

This edition is provided free by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook, easy to obtain on a computer, phone, or e-reader. It generally preserves the original text but offers no modern notes or introduction; readers who need background explanations must look them up themselves.

What detective fiction traditions can be learned from this book?

It embodies the early American detective narrative mode in which the investigator leads and clues are gradually drawn together, and it reflects the cross-disciplinary collaboration of a criminal investigation expert in fictional writing. Readers can observe the common techniques of Golden Age detective fiction in character setup, suspense building, and urban crime atmosphere.

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About the author

Isabel Ostrander Author · American · 1883–1924

Isabel Egenton Ostrander was an American mystery novelist of the early twentieth century, born in New York in 1883 and deceased in 1924. In addition to her own name, she published under pseudonyms such as Douglas Grant, David Fox, and Robert Orr Chipperfield. Her work was chiefly in mystery fiction, and she created characters including the blind detective Damon Gaunt. Her representative works include The Fifth Ace, Anything Once, and The Crevice. Her writing drew the attention of Agatha Christie, who parodied it in The Secret Adversary, suggesting that she had some influence in the popular mystery fiction of her time. Public information about her life and career is limited, and existing accounts focus mainly on her pseudonyms, representative works, and character creation.