Three Thousand Dollars

Green, Anna Katharine, 1846-1935Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 70K words
Chapters: 8

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.Three Thousand Dollars by Anna Katharine GreenAuthor: Green, Anna Katharine, 1846-1935,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 13, 2010

Editor's review

Three Thousand Dollars is a public-domain novel by Anna Katharine Green. Green is known for detective and suspense narrative, and this work continues her characteristic plot-driven approach: a specific sum of money sets off relationships and moral tension, and readers follow the clues through a compact narrative. As a sample of early American popular literature, its value lies not only in the story itself but in observing how a woman author of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries constructed suspense narrative and handled themes of family and property. The text is in English and relatively compact, making it a suitable entry point or supplementary read for understanding Green's body of work. Note that public-domain etexts usually lack modern introductions and annotations, so readers must adapt to the period context and narrative pace on their own. If you enjoy classical suspense and deducing character motives from details, this short work is worth reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-language readers who enjoy classical suspense and detective fiction
Students and enthusiasts of early American popular literature
Readers who want to understand Anna Katharine Green's body of work
Commuters or short-session readers who prefer complete short stories

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting modern pacing and strong twist-driven suspense
Readers who need a Chinese translation or detailed annotations
Beginners with limited patience for nineteenth-century narrative language

Reading tips

Read through once for the plot, then revisit key turns for character dialogue and planted details.
Note how property, family, and moral pressure drive characters' choices.
Compare with Green's other short or full-length works to observe continuity and change in her suspense technique.
If English reading is difficult, start with a plot summary before the original text to lower the barrier.

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 detective novel or a family ethics story?

It is closer to popular fiction with suspense tension, built around the money and relationships, with emphasis on plot momentum and moral pressure rather than a strict detective-case structure. Read it within the context of early American popular literature.

Can I read this without having read other Green works?

Yes. It is relatively compact with a fairly self-contained plot, making it a good entry point to Green's narrative style. If you become interested in early women suspense authors afterward, moving on to her better-known works will be smoother.

What is the reading experience of the public-domain ebook like?

The text is complete and free but usually lacks modern introductions, annotations, or optimized layout. Use a reader with adjustable fonts and look up period background on your own to make up for the limited supplementary information.

Comments

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About the author

Green, Anna Katharine, 1846-1935 Author

Anna Katharine Green (1846–1935) was an important early American writer of detective fiction. Public information about her is limited, and few biographical details are recorded in the collection, but the 39 works held here show that she devoted herself to mystery and suspense writing over a long career. Representative works such as The Leavenworth Case, Agatha Webb, The Forsaken Inn: A Novel, The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange, Hand and Ring, That Affair Next Door, The Chief Legatee, and The Filigree Ball center on criminal investigation and are notable for their careful plotting, tightly structured puzzles, and intricate relationships among characters. Her style emphasizes logical deduction and detailed description, giving her a recognized place in the development of early detective fiction and helping pave the way for later women writers of mystery fiction.