"Fortune Hunter: A Novel of New York Society" by Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie is a captivating comic melodrama that explores the lives of two fashionable bachelors, Brainard and Ellery, as they pursue wealthy brides while being pursued themselves by a relentless debt collector. The story introduces the Clinton sisters, with the elder, Rachel, rejecting the superficiality of fortune hunting, while her younger sister, Ester, embraces the game on her own terms. Meanwhile, the penniless orphan, Miss Arria Walton, finds herself in a poignant love story with Dr. Edgar Chadwick.