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The Red Lamp
A supernatural mystery set in an old seaside house from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author known as the American Agatha Christie. Though he likes to joke about the spirit world, William Porter does not really believe in ghosts. As a professor, he cannot afford to take seriously that which goes bump in the night. But his wife, Jane, is prone to visions, like the one she had last summer about William’s uncle Horace lying dead on the floor—a dream that came just hours before they got the news that the old man had passed away. A year later, William plans to spend the summer at his recently inherited beachfront property with Jane, but a feeling of psychic dread gives her hesitation, and William will later regret convincing her to go. The house is musty, eerie, and littered with supernatural portents—most chillingly, the faint red light that glows in the wee hours. If they don’t escape soon, William and his wife may be visiting the spirit world themselves.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1925
139 people are currently reading
449 people want to read
About the author
Mary Roberts Rinehart
550 books427 followersMysteries of the well-known American writer Mary Roberts Rinehart include
The Circular Staircase
(1908) and
The Door
(1930).
People often called this prolific author the American version of Agatha Christie. She is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it," though the exact phrase doesn't appear in her works, and she invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing.
Rinehart wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues, and special articles. Many of her books and plays were adapted for movies, such as The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). Critics most appreciated her murder mysteries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ro...
People often called this prolific author the American version of Agatha Christie. She is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it," though the exact phrase doesn't appear in her works, and she invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing.
Rinehart wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues, and special articles. Many of her books and plays were adapted for movies, such as The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). Critics most appreciated her murder mysteries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ro...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
January 11, 2020
The Red Lamp by Mary Roberts Rinehart.
My thanks to Otto Penzler for bringing back this timeless classic.
William Porter writes and reads to us his journal taken from his experiences in a seaside manor he has inherited. Uncle Horace recently died under somewhat mysteriously circumstances considering interpretations of it. A day by day - page by page - step by step reporting of the conditions at that estate and its effect on the people involved leaves no detail uncovered.
Excellent reading by a wonderful author who I am just discovering at this late date. Highly recommended.
My thanks to Otto Penzler for bringing back this timeless classic.
William Porter writes and reads to us his journal taken from his experiences in a seaside manor he has inherited. Uncle Horace recently died under somewhat mysteriously circumstances considering interpretations of it. A day by day - page by page - step by step reporting of the conditions at that estate and its effect on the people involved leaves no detail uncovered.
Excellent reading by a wonderful author who I am just discovering at this late date. Highly recommended.
June 22, 2011
Ummmm.....did you ever sit across from someone who never gets to the point, and has to tell you every little tiny detail of every little thing? And after a while you just don't care, you just want escape? That was the pace of this book. Irritatingly slow in the revelation of the culprit. At the beginning of the last chapter, when she has led you on so many wild goose chases that you don't care about, and then left most of the book unresolved, she writes this "synopsis", instead of writing it into the plot of the book. "Okay, here's what happened..."- not very graceful writing. She even says at the beginning of the chapter something like "...so and so's solving of the murder left some very interesting items for discussion"..or something like that. No kidding, and it's about time! The psychic stuff was kind of interesting, and there were some scary moments in the book, but you get over being scared about half way through, after you stop caring. Plus, it was one of those books where you figure out a main portion of the solution way early in the book, but you keep getting "barraged" sp? with red herrings. I had to force myself to finish this book. Rinehart is usually pretty good. She is the "Had I but known" School of mystery writing. Had I but known, I wouldn't have read this.
September 3, 2019
A good read, incredibly written and a unique writing style!
Spooky and adventurous and definitely kept me gripped!
I am loving Mary Roberts Rinehart and I'll definitely be looking for more of her books!
Spooky and adventurous and definitely kept me gripped!
I am loving Mary Roberts Rinehart and I'll definitely be looking for more of her books!
August 4, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
Book 89 (of 250)
In the introduction, Otto Penzler states “The list of the top ten bestselling books for each year in the 1920s showed Rinehart on the list five times, an impressive feat matched only by Sinclair Lewis. The only mystery titles that outsold her in those years were Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and two titles by S.S. Van Dine…”
HOOK – 3 stars: This opens with the following: “Introduction to the Journal of William A. Porter, A.B., M.A., Ph.D., Litt, D., etc.” Don’t know what that ‘etc’ could mean, but this William Porter is one educated guy! The next sentence reads, “June 30, 1924. A few weeks ago, at a dinner, a discussion arose as to the unfinished dramas recorded in the daily press.” Apparently, a professor of literature (or something) is going to fill us in as to some kind of event. Later, on the first page, a character says “Do tell us, Willie…And give us all the horrible details.” Okay, good enough first page for a library checkout and a continued read. But that part about “unfinished dramas” is a tad bothersome.
PACE – 2: Journals, letters, etc., have been staples of novels for hundreds of years. Stoker used the format of letters for “Dracula”. Here, I just didn’t care for these types: “ August 12th (No entry)” and “August 13th (No Entry)”. Then, later we skip from August 18th to August 20th. Was there no August 19th that year? It’s true that the entry for August 20th states that the previous day someone has left, but why not say “August 19th Joe Smith left (or something to that effect)? What's the problem? One stumbles, every now and then, interrupting the flow and that's never a good thing during a read.
PLOT-3: Uncle Horace apparently has had an asthma attack and died. (Many people don’t realize that asthma kills many people every year.) In this book, there is a reference to the effect that the dead man should have led, perhaps, a more sedate life. At the time (1925) there was no such term as “allergic asthma” and it was thought that asthma was caused by over exertion. That’s not true. I liked very much that Horace treated himself by smoking some type of herbal cigarette. That “herb” could very well have been marijuana, as the smoking of pot has been used as a cure for asthma in many places, perhaps all the way back to the time when Rome ruled the world. Throughout the book, characters smell this herbal smoke: either Horace is still alive or everyone is stoned and maybe they just forget what day it is for the purposes of keeping a journal. Rinehart is great at throwing out red herrings all over the place. Shortly after Horace dies, there is another death. Then a broken collarbone. Then a disappearance. Then two more rather violent murders. I really liked the way Rinehart slowly builds tension but I didn’t feel that a number of mysteries were explained fully.
CAST=4: There are some very good characters. Is Uncle Horace still above ground, or is it truly his spirit getting smoked up? Jock, the family pet dog, can sense bad things at 25 yards, easy. Professor William Porter doesn’t believe in all the superstition, then decides to study up on it. But his wife, Jane, sure has the uncanny ability of knowing whose going to die next. There is niece Edith who decides, in order to lure in the attractive but penniless student, Warren Halliday, to make her very own money, and she does so! Imagine that for a woman in 1925: very refreshing. Helena, Clara, and Mr. Sims are part of the ‘help’. Then there is Cameron, a fellow professor of Porter. Starr is the local constable and carpenter (keep that in mind!) and at one point Starr deputizes a young man named Carroway. Then there is…
ATMOSPHERE – 5:…’George’, the name given to the mysterious presence who might really be Horace. Then again, there is a George buried in a nearby cemetery. Mrs. Riggs and her titular “Red Lamp” add a nice layer of mystery. Professor Porter is given to such musings as “And, because we are always staring at the stars, we learn the shortness of our arms” or “All houses in which men have lived and suffered and died are haunted houses.” Uncle Horace is remembered as the man outside “at night in the endless search of the asthmatic for air.” Horace’s massive house is beautifully described as having “a main portion…a hall extending toward the sea…in the seventies [1870, that is] there had been added across the hall, by some long-forgotten builder, a dining room opposite the library…pantries, kitchen, laundry…and a gun room still containing the gun cases along the wall… A place restful and beautiful to the eye; a gentleman’s home with its larkspurs and zinnias, its roses and its sundial…Some lovely woman should sweep down its polished staircase…” There is a boathouse and sloops and odd oars covered in cotton to deaden noise. There are séances and more. But the 5th star for this element is due to the fact that this entire atmosphere IS part of the story: there must be odd red lights (even if it’s from a nearby lighthouse) and strange herbal cigarettes and suspicious characters walking around on stormy nights.
SUMMARY: 3.4. In Penzler’s introduction, he states that Rinehart was known as America’s Agatha Christie (I get that comparison, but not a comparison of Charlotte Armstrong to Agatha Christie). Dame Agatha ruled England’s Golden Age of Mystery with fantastic characters and artfully done atmosphere, and that’s what Rinehart does best here.
Book 89 (of 250)
In the introduction, Otto Penzler states “The list of the top ten bestselling books for each year in the 1920s showed Rinehart on the list five times, an impressive feat matched only by Sinclair Lewis. The only mystery titles that outsold her in those years were Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and two titles by S.S. Van Dine…”
HOOK – 3 stars: This opens with the following: “Introduction to the Journal of William A. Porter, A.B., M.A., Ph.D., Litt, D., etc.” Don’t know what that ‘etc’ could mean, but this William Porter is one educated guy! The next sentence reads, “June 30, 1924. A few weeks ago, at a dinner, a discussion arose as to the unfinished dramas recorded in the daily press.” Apparently, a professor of literature (or something) is going to fill us in as to some kind of event. Later, on the first page, a character says “Do tell us, Willie…And give us all the horrible details.” Okay, good enough first page for a library checkout and a continued read. But that part about “unfinished dramas” is a tad bothersome.
PACE – 2: Journals, letters, etc., have been staples of novels for hundreds of years. Stoker used the format of letters for “Dracula”. Here, I just didn’t care for these types: “ August 12th (No entry)” and “August 13th (No Entry)”. Then, later we skip from August 18th to August 20th. Was there no August 19th that year? It’s true that the entry for August 20th states that the previous day someone has left, but why not say “August 19th Joe Smith left (or something to that effect)? What's the problem? One stumbles, every now and then, interrupting the flow and that's never a good thing during a read.
PLOT-3: Uncle Horace apparently has had an asthma attack and died. (Many people don’t realize that asthma kills many people every year.) In this book, there is a reference to the effect that the dead man should have led, perhaps, a more sedate life. At the time (1925) there was no such term as “allergic asthma” and it was thought that asthma was caused by over exertion. That’s not true. I liked very much that Horace treated himself by smoking some type of herbal cigarette. That “herb” could very well have been marijuana, as the smoking of pot has been used as a cure for asthma in many places, perhaps all the way back to the time when Rome ruled the world. Throughout the book, characters smell this herbal smoke: either Horace is still alive or everyone is stoned and maybe they just forget what day it is for the purposes of keeping a journal. Rinehart is great at throwing out red herrings all over the place. Shortly after Horace dies, there is another death. Then a broken collarbone. Then a disappearance. Then two more rather violent murders. I really liked the way Rinehart slowly builds tension but I didn’t feel that a number of mysteries were explained fully.
CAST=4: There are some very good characters. Is Uncle Horace still above ground, or is it truly his spirit getting smoked up? Jock, the family pet dog, can sense bad things at 25 yards, easy. Professor William Porter doesn’t believe in all the superstition, then decides to study up on it. But his wife, Jane, sure has the uncanny ability of knowing whose going to die next. There is niece Edith who decides, in order to lure in the attractive but penniless student, Warren Halliday, to make her very own money, and she does so! Imagine that for a woman in 1925: very refreshing. Helena, Clara, and Mr. Sims are part of the ‘help’. Then there is Cameron, a fellow professor of Porter. Starr is the local constable and carpenter (keep that in mind!) and at one point Starr deputizes a young man named Carroway. Then there is…
ATMOSPHERE – 5:…’George’, the name given to the mysterious presence who might really be Horace. Then again, there is a George buried in a nearby cemetery. Mrs. Riggs and her titular “Red Lamp” add a nice layer of mystery. Professor Porter is given to such musings as “And, because we are always staring at the stars, we learn the shortness of our arms” or “All houses in which men have lived and suffered and died are haunted houses.” Uncle Horace is remembered as the man outside “at night in the endless search of the asthmatic for air.” Horace’s massive house is beautifully described as having “a main portion…a hall extending toward the sea…in the seventies [1870, that is] there had been added across the hall, by some long-forgotten builder, a dining room opposite the library…pantries, kitchen, laundry…and a gun room still containing the gun cases along the wall… A place restful and beautiful to the eye; a gentleman’s home with its larkspurs and zinnias, its roses and its sundial…Some lovely woman should sweep down its polished staircase…” There is a boathouse and sloops and odd oars covered in cotton to deaden noise. There are séances and more. But the 5th star for this element is due to the fact that this entire atmosphere IS part of the story: there must be odd red lights (even if it’s from a nearby lighthouse) and strange herbal cigarettes and suspicious characters walking around on stormy nights.
SUMMARY: 3.4. In Penzler’s introduction, he states that Rinehart was known as America’s Agatha Christie (I get that comparison, but not a comparison of Charlotte Armstrong to Agatha Christie). Dame Agatha ruled England’s Golden Age of Mystery with fantastic characters and artfully done atmosphere, and that’s what Rinehart does best here.
October 4, 2015
This book got on my reading list by a convoluted route: my sister read a review of a book about a guy who reviewed mystery novels back in the first half of the 20th century (the golden age of mysteries, some would say), and the review included a list of his favorites. So my sister decided to read some of his favorites, and she gave this one to me after she read it. Now that I have read it, I see why it would have made the list. I was almost immediately caught up in the tension, and hated to put the book down after a while, I so wanted to know what was really going on. But it was not just a page-turner, I enjoyed reading it, even as I was eager to get to the end. Part of the fun is that the crimes are solved, but some spooky elements remain unexplained at the end. The style will not be for everyone, but if you like a good old-fashioned mystery novel, you might find this a good read.
October 26, 2019
Creepy, atmospheric tale of a haunted house and the crimes that surround it.
Really enjoyed this book! An expertly told tale told from the viewpoint of one scared and self-conscious man. Spooky and mysterious, with a satisfying conclusion
Really enjoyed this book! An expertly told tale told from the viewpoint of one scared and self-conscious man. Spooky and mysterious, with a satisfying conclusion
November 9, 2022
Not so good as expected...
4* The Circular Staircase
4* The Amazing Interlude
4* The Door
4* The Wall
4* The Yellow Room
3* The red lamp
TR The Bat
TR When a Man Marries
TR The Man in Lower Ten
TR Through Glacier Park In 1915
TR The Breaking Point
TR The Case of Jennie Brice
4* The Circular Staircase
4* The Amazing Interlude
4* The Door
4* The Wall
4* The Yellow Room
3* The red lamp
TR The Bat
TR When a Man Marries
TR The Man in Lower Ten
TR Through Glacier Park In 1915
TR The Breaking Point
TR The Case of Jennie Brice
January 18, 2019
This was a stand-alone suspense/mystery novel from author Mary Roberts Rinehart. The book, first published in 1925 and set in 1922, was a slow plot-driven read with zero character development. I didn't have an issue with the outdated language, but the way the story was presented was really annoying because there were no chapters for the first 260 pages; this section was instead made up of journal entries from a three month period with each entry spanning at the shortest a few paragraphs and at the longest several pages. As said, it felt slow. While the "spiritism" and "superstitious" parts of the story made me roll my eyes at times, the plot would have fallen apart without those elements, and besides, they provided a great deal of the suspense in the plot. It was a decent, suspenseful mystery novel from the Golden Age of mystery authors, but based on only this example, I have no idea why anyone would call her "The American Agatha Christie," but I can understand why her popularity decreased after her death.
February 12, 2019
Not a hard mystery to figure out, but interesting and well written. I remember reading a few of Mary Roberts Rinehart's mysteries many years ago and liking them. The setting of this one is interesting, and the young people's differences from the older characters is actually funny. I think this was written in the 1920s and it certainly shows in the way Ms. Rinehart wrote the dialogue for the protagonist's niece and her boyfriend. I liked it, a little slow, but good over all.
September 16, 2019
Tame by more modern thriller standards of shock and awe, Reinhardt weaves a quiet tale of mysterious happenings in a recently inherited seaside mansion.
For me, the major flaw involves a multiplicity of characters whose names pop up repeatedly but don’t seem rooted in the story (or maybe just in my addled mind).
Still worth reading.
For me, the major flaw involves a multiplicity of characters whose names pop up repeatedly but don’t seem rooted in the story (or maybe just in my addled mind).
Still worth reading.
October 1, 2022
Oh, dear.
I stuck with the book because the characters and the place were interesting, and of course I wanted to see the mystery solved, but the end was entirely too confusing. I’m still not sure what happened.
I stuck with the book because the characters and the place were interesting, and of course I wanted to see the mystery solved, but the end was entirely too confusing. I’m still not sure what happened.
October 17, 2011
A fine mix of mystery and ghost story. Perfect for the Halloween season.
May 17, 2013
This book bored me to sleep, twice!
May 3, 2016
My very favorite, MRR, ever!
February 1, 2019
Fascinating!
The Red Lamp is a fascinating mystery about a haunted house. Our narrator tells the story of ghostly twists and turns that occurs throughout this book.
The Red Lamp is a fascinating mystery about a haunted house. Our narrator tells the story of ghostly twists and turns that occurs throughout this book.
April 23, 2020
I love this author's mysteries, and this one has a ghost! Or...does it?
October 31, 2022
Good spine-tingling (sometimes) mystery. It just didn’t always hold my attention.
May 26, 2023
I found this an interesting read, perhaps even more for its historical value than for the story itself.
This story was originally published in 1925, and it was on the NYT bestseller list. It received rave reviews. Therefore, it gives modern-day readers insight into what people enjoyed reading about in the 1920s. There is much discussion in the story about (literally) "things that go bump in the night," as well as a couple of seances that take place, "trances," and even one conversation about an ouija board. While it is not a "horror" story, it is creepy.
William Porter has inherited the estate of Twin Hollows along a river in the Northeast, where his late uncle Horace died. It includes the larger house, as well as the lodge, the boathouse, and also a sailboat and other paraphernalia. His wife Jane, niece Edith, and a law student, Warren Halliday, all decide to spend the summer on the estate, but Jane refuses to be in the main house (she supposedly has "second sight" and doesn't want to be in a place where someone died). So William, Jane, and Edith settle into the Lodge, and Halliday bunks out in the boathouse (he is Edith's love interest). William decides to rent the larger house for the summer, even though there have always been rumors of "ghosts."
Soon enough, strange lights, strange sounds, and other events begin to happen. Then, people begin to disappear. When a body appears along the river's edge tied to an anchor, the police begin to wonder about William as the clues pile up against him.
The entire story is told through William's summer journal, which I found to be an effective means of storytelling. It is a slow burn, too. Each day of the summer, from June to September, is mentioned. The pressure builds imperceptibly but powerfully.
IMO, this entire story would have been just as interesting without the (from my perspective "excessive") use of "spiritism," as it's referred to in the book. But this is what sold books in 1925. That in itself made it fascinating to read.
I would encourage people to read this for the many reasons I have stated. It offers historical value, it gives a good example of a unique form of storytelling, and is an overall good mystery.
RECOMMEND
This story was originally published in 1925, and it was on the NYT bestseller list. It received rave reviews. Therefore, it gives modern-day readers insight into what people enjoyed reading about in the 1920s. There is much discussion in the story about (literally) "things that go bump in the night," as well as a couple of seances that take place, "trances," and even one conversation about an ouija board. While it is not a "horror" story, it is creepy.
William Porter has inherited the estate of Twin Hollows along a river in the Northeast, where his late uncle Horace died. It includes the larger house, as well as the lodge, the boathouse, and also a sailboat and other paraphernalia. His wife Jane, niece Edith, and a law student, Warren Halliday, all decide to spend the summer on the estate, but Jane refuses to be in the main house (she supposedly has "second sight" and doesn't want to be in a place where someone died). So William, Jane, and Edith settle into the Lodge, and Halliday bunks out in the boathouse (he is Edith's love interest). William decides to rent the larger house for the summer, even though there have always been rumors of "ghosts."
Soon enough, strange lights, strange sounds, and other events begin to happen. Then, people begin to disappear. When a body appears along the river's edge tied to an anchor, the police begin to wonder about William as the clues pile up against him.
The entire story is told through William's summer journal, which I found to be an effective means of storytelling. It is a slow burn, too. Each day of the summer, from June to September, is mentioned. The pressure builds imperceptibly but powerfully.
IMO, this entire story would have been just as interesting without the (from my perspective "excessive") use of "spiritism," as it's referred to in the book. But this is what sold books in 1925. That in itself made it fascinating to read.
I would encourage people to read this for the many reasons I have stated. It offers historical value, it gives a good example of a unique form of storytelling, and is an overall good mystery.
RECOMMEND
March 26, 2022
Nicely spooky, but rather confusing ghost/detective story. I like the uncertain reality of the ghostly elements, and some of the scenes—especially the seances—are quite effective. But the diary structure doesn’t work so well with Rinehart’s foreshadowing tendencies, and Porter himself is kind of an unsatisfying narrator—always two steps removed from what’s really happening, and seeing everything as through a glass, darkly. Jane or Edith would have been a better narrator. And why have everyone at the lodge, so that the main house’s spookiness is at a remove as well?
Later ones are better.
Later ones are better.
December 10, 2025
3.5 stars rounded up. An interesting mystery in the style of De Maurier’s gothics, but the narrative dragged in places. Rinehart certainly plays fair as far as the mystery goes, and if you’re paying attention you can catch the villain before the reveal.
January 25, 2023
Whoo! That was a fun ride - even if it got a little long in places. That last reveal made my jaw drop. (I heard the people in the booth next to me actually asking each other what i could be reading.)
March 2, 2021
It was exceptional! The story telling in the form of a diary, the intrigue and language used was amazing. Although I thought it would be a slow read, it definitely wasn't. I loved the characters, the story and the main protagonist, who is adorable.
January 30, 2013
HY·PER·BO·LE
[hahy-pur-buh-lee]
noun Rhetoric .
1.
obvious and intentional exaggeration.
2.
an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intendedto be taken literally, as “to wait an eternity.”
That is the definition of hyperbole as provided by Dictionary.com. I think there needs to be a whole section added that discusses the over the top nature of book synopsises. It may not even be a bad idea to have a special section set aside for mystery novels. I don't think there is a genre that lends itself to it more. Now I'm not suggesting that The Red Lamp doesn't live up to the tension and suspense of the synopsis, because it does. I just can't help but chuckle every time I read the back cover of a vintage mystery novel.
Narrated by Professor William Porter, The Red Lamp is an interesting twist on a haunted house mystery. The Porters had inherited Twin Towers, a massive estate sitting right on the water, when William's uncle passed away. Despite Jane's visions and feelings of apprehension, the decide to spend the summer at the estate, though not in the main house. They will stay in the guest house, while they rent out the house itself. Jane never quite feels comfortable, though she soldiers on.
It doesn't take long for things to start going wrong though. A red lamp, used by an infamous medium, is seen glowing from the windows of the main house. Cattle, then humans, are being brutally killed in the area. At each scene a strange symbol is left, a symbol that points to the paranormal, and back to William Porter. The professor is at the top of the suspect list, at least on the list of living suspects. With the of a trusted few, William is forced to clear his own name, and get to the truth of the eerie happenings.
I'm still trying to figure out what I think of this one. As you know I love Mary Roberts Rinehart, probably to a fault. I have yet to be completely unhappy with one of her books, and can normally find a redeeming quality in her writing. There is a lot I liked about The Red Lamp. The mystery itself has just enough tension in it, that I found myself not wanting to put the book down. The atmosphere, which I think Rinehart is a true genius at creating, is brilliant. The fear floats through the air and keeps the characters in a reactionary stance. It's hard for them to keep a solid footing, when the action and emotions keep pushing them over.
What I'm not so sure about is the combination of the supernatural with a human murderer. I'm almost left with the impression that I would have preferred a ghostly or demonic killer, or for the supernatural elements to be explained away as something solidly set in the real world. What Rinehart gives us instead, is a mixture of the two that I'm not sure really worked. The strengths of the book saved it for me, but part of me thinks The Red Lamp could have been so much better.
[hahy-pur-buh-lee]
noun Rhetoric .
1.
obvious and intentional exaggeration.
2.
an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intendedto be taken literally, as “to wait an eternity.”
That is the definition of hyperbole as provided by Dictionary.com. I think there needs to be a whole section added that discusses the over the top nature of book synopsises. It may not even be a bad idea to have a special section set aside for mystery novels. I don't think there is a genre that lends itself to it more. Now I'm not suggesting that The Red Lamp doesn't live up to the tension and suspense of the synopsis, because it does. I just can't help but chuckle every time I read the back cover of a vintage mystery novel.
Narrated by Professor William Porter, The Red Lamp is an interesting twist on a haunted house mystery. The Porters had inherited Twin Towers, a massive estate sitting right on the water, when William's uncle passed away. Despite Jane's visions and feelings of apprehension, the decide to spend the summer at the estate, though not in the main house. They will stay in the guest house, while they rent out the house itself. Jane never quite feels comfortable, though she soldiers on.
It doesn't take long for things to start going wrong though. A red lamp, used by an infamous medium, is seen glowing from the windows of the main house. Cattle, then humans, are being brutally killed in the area. At each scene a strange symbol is left, a symbol that points to the paranormal, and back to William Porter. The professor is at the top of the suspect list, at least on the list of living suspects. With the of a trusted few, William is forced to clear his own name, and get to the truth of the eerie happenings.
I'm still trying to figure out what I think of this one. As you know I love Mary Roberts Rinehart, probably to a fault. I have yet to be completely unhappy with one of her books, and can normally find a redeeming quality in her writing. There is a lot I liked about The Red Lamp. The mystery itself has just enough tension in it, that I found myself not wanting to put the book down. The atmosphere, which I think Rinehart is a true genius at creating, is brilliant. The fear floats through the air and keeps the characters in a reactionary stance. It's hard for them to keep a solid footing, when the action and emotions keep pushing them over.
What I'm not so sure about is the combination of the supernatural with a human murderer. I'm almost left with the impression that I would have preferred a ghostly or demonic killer, or for the supernatural elements to be explained away as something solidly set in the real world. What Rinehart gives us instead, is a mixture of the two that I'm not sure really worked. The strengths of the book saved it for me, but part of me thinks The Red Lamp could have been so much better.
November 12, 2022
I started this on Halloween, and it turned out to be perfectly suited to that timing.
This is a golden age mystery by the author who was called the American Agatha Christie. I haven't read any of her other works. I picked this up as part of a readalong on IG. I am very keen to read more golden age mysteries by other authors, as I'm almost done with Agatha.
Things I liked: the atmosphere. This reads almost like a haunted house mystery. The mystery part is very faint, as we try to figure out if the uncle was killed or died by natural causes. Then the secondary mystery kicks in, but has more of a supernatural element to it. I really got creeped out by some of it. It has everything - eerie red lights, fog, a remote setting, suspicious locals, and all kinds of secret signs and murmurings. I liked that the hero felt himself to be a suspect; that added to the urgency. I liked the characters, and the parts they played, especially his wife Jane.
The pace was rather slow, although there was a lot of action. I can't explain how that happened. And things that seemed terribly tragic or urgent seemed to fade, and then they would rise to the surface again, almost as an afterthought. If people disappear, you expect that the search for them would be top of mind. But really, so much was going on, one thing after another, that I could see getting distracted. This story kind of had everything: seance, spectral lights, ghastly murder, disappearances, a rambling old house, creepy old and young men, a dashing hero, a bumbling professor, and even a writer who had come to write his book. There's more, of course, but I don't want to spoil anything.
I found this most like Agatha in that atmospheric bent. Some of her books, like The Hollow, Endless Night and Peril at End House involve houses that become almost characters, and have that gothic, rainy, coastal element that this one has. I will reserve judgement as to whether or not I think she is the American Agatha Christie until I've read more of her work. But overall, I definitely enjoyed this, though it was a bit slow, and I couldn't quite get why the crime was committed in the first place. But I will be reading more of her stories.
This is a golden age mystery by the author who was called the American Agatha Christie. I haven't read any of her other works. I picked this up as part of a readalong on IG. I am very keen to read more golden age mysteries by other authors, as I'm almost done with Agatha.
Things I liked: the atmosphere. This reads almost like a haunted house mystery. The mystery part is very faint, as we try to figure out if the uncle was killed or died by natural causes. Then the secondary mystery kicks in, but has more of a supernatural element to it. I really got creeped out by some of it. It has everything - eerie red lights, fog, a remote setting, suspicious locals, and all kinds of secret signs and murmurings. I liked that the hero felt himself to be a suspect; that added to the urgency. I liked the characters, and the parts they played, especially his wife Jane.
The pace was rather slow, although there was a lot of action. I can't explain how that happened. And things that seemed terribly tragic or urgent seemed to fade, and then they would rise to the surface again, almost as an afterthought. If people disappear, you expect that the search for them would be top of mind. But really, so much was going on, one thing after another, that I could see getting distracted. This story kind of had everything: seance, spectral lights, ghastly murder, disappearances, a rambling old house, creepy old and young men, a dashing hero, a bumbling professor, and even a writer who had come to write his book. There's more, of course, but I don't want to spoil anything.
I found this most like Agatha in that atmospheric bent. Some of her books, like The Hollow, Endless Night and Peril at End House involve houses that become almost characters, and have that gothic, rainy, coastal element that this one has. I will reserve judgement as to whether or not I think she is the American Agatha Christie until I've read more of her work. But overall, I definitely enjoyed this, though it was a bit slow, and I couldn't quite get why the crime was committed in the first place. But I will be reading more of her stories.
May 17, 2020
One of the finest qualities of the writing of Mary Roberts Rinehart is her ability to create definite atmosphere for her reader. That is in full force in The Red Lamp, where professor of literature William Porter inherits a reportedly haunted house at the seaside. Immediately upon the arrival of Porter and his family, strange events begin and quickly grow more sinister.
The story is mostly told in the form of a journal kept by Porter; my initial reaction to that was negative, but I now see it is quite an effective tool. Since Porter is relating the events to the reader after they've occurred, it provides a bit of extra shock value (similar to one hearing some surprising news). The added benefit is the deeper connection the reader gains with the narrator.
As always, Rinehart provides interesting characters and settings but sometimes her endings aren't the payoffs they should be (this is my primary memory of another of her books, The After House). The ending here does make sense (although one plot point involving the scoundrel is a bit of an eye-roller), but once finished the reader will have to review the events in the story in light of the revelations in the final chapter. I did that and found that the pieces did fall into place.
The primary draw here is the atmosphere. In this book Rinehart brings in a bit of the supernatural, from clairvoyance to ghosts, and the end result is a certainly compelling read. Perhaps not the best book to read alone at night as I did...
The story is mostly told in the form of a journal kept by Porter; my initial reaction to that was negative, but I now see it is quite an effective tool. Since Porter is relating the events to the reader after they've occurred, it provides a bit of extra shock value (similar to one hearing some surprising news). The added benefit is the deeper connection the reader gains with the narrator.
As always, Rinehart provides interesting characters and settings but sometimes her endings aren't the payoffs they should be (this is my primary memory of another of her books, The After House). The ending here does make sense (although one plot point involving the scoundrel is a bit of an eye-roller), but once finished the reader will have to review the events in the story in light of the revelations in the final chapter. I did that and found that the pieces did fall into place.
The primary draw here is the atmosphere. In this book Rinehart brings in a bit of the supernatural, from clairvoyance to ghosts, and the end result is a certainly compelling read. Perhaps not the best book to read alone at night as I did...
December 17, 2018
Stand-alone mystery from author Mary Roberts Rinehart. Set in 1922, I found this 1925 offering to be an extremely slow read. There are no chapters for the first 260 pages which comprise 3 months of a journal with entries from a few paragraphs to a few pages in length. The language, as expected, is dated and the supernatural elements were not to my liking. I've enjoyed the short stories I've read by author Rinehart and look forward to reading some of her more traditional mysteries.
The plot is recounted through diary entries made in 1922 by William Porter, a literature professor, who inherited a large house near the town of Oakville from his uncle Horace. Horace was found dead in his home, apparently from heart failure, hours after Porter's wife, Jane, had a vision of Horace lying still on the library floor. Despite misgivings about the circumstances of Horace's death, and local insistence that the house is haunted, Porter rents it out to an invalid and his secretary. More deaths follow, and Porter becomes a person of interest to the police.
The plot is recounted through diary entries made in 1922 by William Porter, a literature professor, who inherited a large house near the town of Oakville from his uncle Horace. Horace was found dead in his home, apparently from heart failure, hours after Porter's wife, Jane, had a vision of Horace lying still on the library floor. Despite misgivings about the circumstances of Horace's death, and local insistence that the house is haunted, Porter rents it out to an invalid and his secretary. More deaths follow, and Porter becomes a person of interest to the police.
October 10, 2022
UPDATE ON MY UPDATE: I continue to keep thinking about this story...I'm going to move it 5 stars!
UPDATE: I had to give this 4 stars after all; for some reason I cannot get the story out of my head.
I would really like to round up but I feel 4 stars might be too many; maybe I should since I love Mrs. Rinehart...
This story has easily made it into my favorites list, and not just because it was written by Mrs. Rinehart but because it was a joy to read...enough so that I bought a physical copy of it (along with "The Confession" another of my favorites).
My only issues with The Red Lamp would be that many times the dialog was confusing; like who is "he"; we're four pages past the name of the person in question and other guys have been mentioned, so I need a little refresher...who is "he" again.
UPDATE: I had to give this 4 stars after all; for some reason I cannot get the story out of my head.
I would really like to round up but I feel 4 stars might be too many; maybe I should since I love Mrs. Rinehart...
This story has easily made it into my favorites list, and not just because it was written by Mrs. Rinehart but because it was a joy to read...enough so that I bought a physical copy of it (along with "The Confession" another of my favorites).
My only issues with The Red Lamp would be that many times the dialog was confusing; like who is "he"; we're four pages past the name of the person in question and other guys have been mentioned, so I need a little refresher...who is "he" again.
November 10, 2018
College professor William Porter does not believe in ghosts, though he admits to himself that his wife Jane has some unusual abilities that may verge on ESP. When he inherits a shore estate from his uncle, Jane doesn't want to live there, not even for the summer. And certainly the house has a strange reputation. When Porter finds an unsent letter that makes him wonder if his uncle had been murdered, he agrees to live with his wife and young ward Edith in the lodge of the house, and rent the main house to an elderly man with a medical condition who wants to write a book with the aid of his sleazy secretary. What follows has Porter ready to believe in ghosts, but Edith's law-student suitor is on hand to unveil a murderer.
December 10, 2018
I'm sorry my mother died before I discovered The Red Lamp by Mary Roberts Rinehart. I'm sure she read her and probably owned a first edition. This one had the scary, isolated house, and some seances, but it wasn't hackneyed in any way. It was scary all the way through. It has aged astonishingly well!
June 27, 2021
Scary! But Real?
As a college professor, William Porter doesn’t take the belief in ghosts seriously. By he’s married to Jane, a woman who has psychic visions.
So, he’s spending the summer at his uncle’s house in the country. Strange things happen. Murders, psychic visions and a mysterious red light.
Is it time to start believing?
As a college professor, William Porter doesn’t take the belief in ghosts seriously. By he’s married to Jane, a woman who has psychic visions.
So, he’s spending the summer at his uncle’s house in the country. Strange things happen. Murders, psychic visions and a mysterious red light.
Is it time to start believing?
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