Mary Roberts Rinehart is best known for her "had she but known" style of mystery stories. These stories are usually narrated in first person form by a naïve female, not necessarily young, looking back on her own experience.
Ms. Rinehart was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania in 1876. Her mother was a seamstress. Her father was a salesman. He committed suicide in 1895. Ms. Rinehart studied nursing, graduating in 1896. She married Dr. Stanley Rinehart and had three children. She began her writing career in order to supplement the family income. Ironically, the success of her play, The Bat made millions, allowing Ms. Rinehart and her family to enjoy life in high society.
Her mysteries are intricately plotted with sub-plots woven under the surface. Romance is usually an element of her stories. The background can be of the idle rich, as in The Circular Staircase, or of the lower class, as in The Case of Jenny Brice. Her narrators are not always young naïve females. In The Man in Lower Ten, the narrator is a young naïve male attorney.
Ms. Rinehart created a series character known as Miss Pinkerton, a.k.a. Hilda Adams. Hilda, a nurse, helps out the police with investigations since, as a nurse, she is under no oath of confidentiality to her patients.
If you like Mary Roberts Rinehart, try Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Elizabeth George, Victoria Holt, and Phyllis Whitney.
Reading List
- The Circular Staircase - After seeing a shadowy face and hearing ominous sounds, Rachel Innes is convinced that her rented summer house in the Adirondacks is haunted. Then, the night after her niece and nephew unexpectedly arrive, Rachel discovers a dead body at the foot of the circular staircase. But it isn't until her relatives become the prime suspects that Rachel fears for her own life.
- Man in Lower Ten
- The Window at the White Cat - Jack Knox adores Margery, but Margery seems to prefer disreputable Harry Wardrop. Then Margery's father is killed outside The White Cat club, and Jack knows he must solve the mystery before he--and perhaps Margery--appear on the killer's list!
- The Case of Jenny Brice - A blood-stained rope and towel, and a missing tenant, convince Mrs. Pittman that a murder has been committed in her boarding house. But without a body, the police say there is no case. Now, it's up to Mrs. Pittman to ferret out the killer. For as the landlady, she has the perfect excuse to do a little snooping--and the key to Jennie's apartment.
