Best Mysteries of Mary Roberts Rinehart: Four Complete Novels by America's First Lady of Mystery

by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Enhanced by a biographical profile of the author and an introduction to her work, an omnibus edition brings together four classic mystery novels from the acclaimed American writer, including The Circular Staircase, The Man in Lower Ten, The Window at the White Cat, and The Buckled Bag.

Genres: Mystery

608 pages, Hardcover

First published September 16, 2002

About the author

Mysteries 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...

Reviews

[James Conkley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rinehart has always been a favorite of mine. The perfect bedside reading. Extremely entertaining .. If you like Mysteries .. Rinehart is the answer next to good ol' Sherlock !

[Kat Walter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated in language and social attitude...but, hey, it was written a century ago. Solid, but not particularly fascinating; a lot of wandering around in the dark and fainting females.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has three full length stories and a short story as follows:
The Circular Staircase-an wealthy older lady as the main character, somewhat ridiculous but this story has an amazing sounding old mansion with a CIRCULAR STAIRCASE in it so it is somewhat redeemed :D
The Man in Lower Ten-side romance where main character, avowedly not a womanizer, falls in love with another character which is irksome in a good mystery but this story also has a train wreck so it js partially redeemed
The Window at the White Cat-lawyer as the main character seems a bit strange for a mystery, and of course he falls in love with another character (*heavy eye roll*) but the side mystery of the missing lady I found somewhat amusing
The Buckled Bag-nurse inserted as a sort of undercover detective in a house with a disappearance, it’s interesting to read as an aside how home health nursing sorta worked a century ago and I would like to read the rest of the stories with this main nurse character (though I think in the end she’ll marry the policeman who put her up to it -what cop shows would call her handler now I suppose)

[Sandra Weaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of her best books A masterful story teller

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

while some of the stories are outdated (some have some racist and anti-women's vote ideas in them) the mysteries are still solid and hold up to today's standards. They make for light tea cozy mystery reading.

[Jane]

So far have read the fourth mystery in this book.

The Buckled Bag
4.25 stars - rated pg

I quite enjoyed this short mystery, the first book of the Nurse Hilda Adams mysteries. I thought I had figured out what was going on… but oops, I had it wrong. Twice. Did not see coming the twist at the end. This story is okay for those who like mysteries with no murder or “murder-lite”, it’s really more a missing person mystery. Not creepy enough to hurt my tender sensibilities. (Read September 2018)

[David F.]

Four early golden age mysteries. Dated in style but entertaining reading nonetheless.