The Dead Letter

We rely on your support to help us keep producing beautiful, free, and unrestricted editions of literature for the digital age. Will you support our efforts with a donation ? Written by Metta Victor under the pseudonym Seeley Regester in 1866, The Dead Letter , a wide-ranging "American Romance," is considered to be the first full-length American detective novel. The young lawyer Richard Redfield becomes entangled in a murder investigation when the fiancee of a woman he has feelings for is knifed to death on her way to visit the family in upstate New York. Richard is both suspect and investigator, and engages the services of Mr. Burton, a successful detective from New York City. The action moves from a Hudson Valley village to the City, and farther along to California and Mexico, before the perpetrator is revealed. Metta Victor (died 1885) was one of the most distinguished authors of the Victorian age. Their work has endured across generations and continues to be read and studied worldwide. The golden age of detective fiction produced some of the most beloved and influential works in the literary canon. The Dead Letter is a fine specimen of this tradition, combining ingenious plotting with richly drawn characters and an atmosphere of suspense that keeps readers turning pages.