The Daughter of Anderson Crow

About the book

Anderson Crow holds several public offices in Tinkletown and considers his detective abilities a source of distinction for the entire community. His confidence is often more dependable than his deductions. When an infant is left at his doorstep during a snowstorm, the mystery acquires a domestic importance that survives the neighborhood's first excitement. Raised as Rosalie, the foundling develops wishes of her own, while unanswered questions about her origins invite interference and danger. McCutcheon combines comic episodes of provincial detection with romance and a more sustained plot of concealment and pursuit. Crow's official vanity remains a target of affectionate satire, but the family's attachment to Rosalie gives the investigation stakes that cannot be measured by publicity, badges, or the admiration of his neighbors.

• Found family
• Identity and secrecy
• Small-town pretension

Why read it

Crow's comic self-confidence gains emotional weight when his detective problem concerns the daughter he has raised.

English text of the 1907 Dodd, Mead and Company edition