Anna Katharine Green was an American poet and novelist, born in Brooklyn, New York. She was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America. Her father was a well-known trial lawyer, and Anna was present during his discussions of cases with his friends. She used this knowledge to write well-plotted, legally accurate stories. Her first and best known novel, The Leavenworth Case, was an overnight success, selling 750,000 copies. The book was praised its the mastery of legal points; it was used at Yale University to demonstrate the fallacy of circumstantial evidence. She went on to write over forty books. In The House in the Mist, weary traveler Hugh Austin arrives, seeking food and lodging for the night. "Enter, sir; you are the first to arrive, but the others can not be far behind," he is told. "What others?" he wonders, gazing at a stern portrait hanging on the wall. He finds he has chanced upon the gathering of friends and relatives of the man in the portrait. An inheritance is to be divided, all concerned must be present by the appointed hour. And this inheritance is so substantial that violence, murder, and vengeance from beyond the grave all await among the heirs. . . .