logo
Wrong email address or username
Wrong email address or username
Incorrect verification code
The Circular Staircase - Mary Roberts Rinehart
The Circular Staircase
by: (author)
2.50 50
A middle-aged spinster rents a country house for the summer and soon finds herself plunged into a nasty scenario of bank defaults, stolen securities, and murder in this entertaining blend of intrigue, villainy, and heart-pounding suspense.In her prime, American novelist and playwright Mary... show more
A middle-aged spinster rents a country house for the summer and soon finds herself plunged into a nasty scenario of bank defaults, stolen securities, and murder in this entertaining blend of intrigue, villainy, and heart-pounding suspense.In her prime, American novelist and playwright Mary Roberts Rinehart was more famous than Agatha Christie. Originator of the phrase "The butler did it," she is best known for her mystery stories---including The Circular Staircase, The Man in Lower Ten, and Tish---which combine murder, love, ingenuity, and humor in a style that is uniquely her own. Several of her suspense novels were turned into Broadway successes, including The Bat (which was derived from The Circular Staircase).Mary Roberts was born in Allegheny Pittsburgh in 1876. In 1896 Mary graduated from the Pittsburgh Training School for Nurses, married physician Stanley Rinehart, and started a family. Financial losses drove Mary to take up a writing career in 1903. Childhood memories such as the nearby state penitentiary, the one-armed policeman, and a mute neighbor inspired her novels. Five years later, her first novel, The Circular Staircase, became an instant success.In addition to her novels, the public grew to know Mary through the magazine serials and essays that she wrote for the Saturday Evening Post. During World War I, Mary served as a war correspondent and was one of the few that were allowed to report directly from the trenches. At the time of her death in 1958, her books had sold more than 10 million copies.
show less
Format: Textbook
ISBN: 9780809593477 (0809593475)
ASIN: 9780809593477
Publisher: Wildside Press
Pages no: 208
Edition language: English
Category:
Classics, Mystery
Bookstores:
Community Reviews
a reading life
a reading life rated it
4.0 The Circular Staircase
Mary Roberts Rinehart is an author I've wanted to try for some time now and The Circular Staircase was a satisfying intro to her works. I like her writing style so far, tinged as it is with a little humour and irony. "This is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lost her mind, deserted her dom...
The better to see you, my dear
The better to see you, my dear rated it
3.0 Funny and annoying
I'm not much for cozy mysteries. The vaguely acerbic nosy middle aged men and women that populate them tend to annoy me. As do the comedy of errors that people being secretive cause. I get it, the very human petty selfishness that makes one try to keep hidden personal peccadilloes even in the face o...
Abandoned by user
Abandoned by user rated it
3.0 The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart
I read this as a buddy read, but went on vacation at about the halfway point. My hotel wifi was pretty worthless, so I wasn't able to login while I was Disneylanding - and Disneyland isn't really a place for internet activity, in any case, because by the time I'd get back to my room, I was so exhaus...
Tannat
Tannat rated it
3.5 The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart
This was a quaint old mystery, and the writing was suffused with a surprising amount of humour (it helped birth the “character sets pocket on fire with pipe” shelf). Originally published in 1908, the narrator is an elderly spinster who gets mired in a murder investigation when she leases a house in ...
Murder by Death
Murder by Death rated it
4.0 The Circular Staircase
My second read of this book and it's almost as good as the first. I continue to like Rachel; I'd like to think she comes closest to how I'd act in a parallel situation. The humour held up too and I still marvel at Rinehart keeping all the plot points of her story straight. I've read too many c...
Other editions (13)
Books by Mary Roberts Rinehart
On shelves
Share this Book
Need help?