Judge Ostrander of Shelby has become a recluse, but he is approached by the wife of a murderer a Mrs Averill (a name she assumed after the hanging of her husband). The victim was the Judges' best friend, Algernon Etheridge, and he was the Judge on the case. The convicted murderer was John Scoville.
Now Reuther Averill (Scoville) and Oliver Ostrander, the Judges son, were to have married but on finding out the truth of her father, Reuther withdrew. Now Mrs Scoville wants to prove her husband innocent so that the offspring can marry.
So who did kill Algernon Etheridge.
An enjoyable crime story originally published in 1914 ( )

Green was the author of The Leavenworth case, which is considered to be an American mystery classic of sorts, but this book is just plain indigestible. The story centers around a the murder of a respectable citizen. His murderer, a disreputable tavern owner with a reputation for violence, is caught, tried and hanged, but the lives of the central figures around the trial--the judge, who was also the victim's best friend, the tavern owner's wife and child, the judge's son--are never the same again. After some years, the widow returns, convinced that her husband was not guilty and, seeking justice for him and respectability for her daughter, begins to open old wounds.

If that sounds interesting in theory, the execution wrings every drop of movement from the story. The prose is turgid and melodramatic. By the end of the novel, only one possible suspect could have done it and the conclusion is mildly interesting but not worth dragging yourself through the book for. I found it icky and depressing. ( )