The Green God

The Green God

By

2
(4 Reviews)
The Green God by Frederic Arnold Kummer

Published:

1911

Downloads:

1,735

Share This

The Green God

By

2
(4 Reviews)
Says the Rochester Post Express:"The solution of the mystery is tantalizingly baffling. The writer displays an ingenuity worthy of Poe and far more subtle than that of Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes."

Book Excerpt

up and caught the burning eyes of Mr. Ashton fixed upon hers. She returned his gaze defiantly for a moment, then lowered her eyes and composed her features behind the cold and impassive mask she had worn throughout the evening.

Ashton flushed a sullen red, then picked up the jewel and set it carelessly upon the top of a cut-glass salt cellar, turning it this way and that to catch the light. As he did so, I observed the Chinese servant enter the doorway opposite me with cigars, cigarettes and an alcohol lamp upon a tray, and I was startled to see his wooden, impassive face light up with a glare of sudden anger and alarm as he caught sight of the jewel. Major Temple, observing him at the same moment, quickly covered the figure with his hand, and the Chinaman, resuming almost instantly his customary look of childlike unconcern, proceeded to offer us the contents of the tray as Miss Temple rose and left the table. I instinctively felt that Mr. Ashton and his host desired to be alone, so, after lighting my

More books by Frederic Arnold Kummer

(view all)

Readers reviews

5
4
3
2
1
2.0
Average from 4 Reviews
2
Write Review
Profile picture for user aMaureen
TheTicker
2
I cannot agree with the "Rochester Post Express". Neither Poe or Doyle would have let this manuscript out to a publisher. They would have been too embarrassed!
While I can understand the morals of the day in which the story is set, I find it completely beyond my comprehension how some females are so totally inept and thick! Some of the men are just as bad if not worse as this story unfolds.
The premise was good initially but things just seemed to get worse as I read on to the end.
A man is found dead in a locked room from a blow to the head.
The suspect? A man with whom the deceased had shady business dealings and an argument the same night.
But, how could this happen? You need a master detective to find out, of course.
The Green God? A Jade Buddha. The object of the shady dealings.
Was it a murder? Is the room the deceased slept in haunted?
Not too interesting unfortunately. Morgan is to dull a character to be a detective. I bet I can do better than him. I felt the story so boring, the plot so gloomy, that I gave up reading in the mid-way. I believe the police could have done well without the detective. While reading you wait for the action to begin but you find that the story is monotonus for a long time. Just imagine a detective who is not sure whether somebody bolted the window of the room in his presence in which a murder was commited some times ago. If you wanna read a text book, go ahead!
I very much enjoy mysteries from the early 1900's usually because of the cultural milieu in which they are birthed. I also enjoy the creativity when the mystery genre was young.

The Green God is not one I enjoyed if nothing more than that the protagonist and narrator, Owen Morgan, is hands down the densest, most stupidest individual I have ever encountered in literature.

Though he ultimately solves the mystery, his absentmindedness is guaranteed to drive the reader to distraction.