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The Circular Staircase (Miss Cornelia Van Gorder Trilogy #2)

Mary Roberts Rinehart

Start date: October 1, 2017

Finish date: October 31, 2017

Discussion: Group reads

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What Members Thought

Mar 20, 2015 Jan C rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library, audio, gr-group-read, 2015, mystery, 2017

Fairly enjoyable. Very reminiscent of Phoebe Atwood Taylor's stories about Miss Prudence Whitsby (Asey Mayo stories). Both involve spinsters summering at the shore, or at least in the country. I wondered if they were written around the same time not really, 1908 vs. 1931. I listened to the audio but I just discovered that this book is free on Kindle. I will be looking at others of her books.

Not sure if I thought she wrote romance or horror, but I was pleasantly surprised at this mystery.

10/3/17 ...more

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Sep 13, 2017 Becky rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: shareatea2017, 2017reviews, classicsclub2017

First sentence: This is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lost her mind, deserted her domestic gods in the city, took a furnished house for the summer out of town, and found herself involved in one of those mysterious crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous.

Premise/plot: The novel opens with Rachel Innes, "Aunt Ray," deciding to rent a large country house in the summer to share with her niece, Gertrude, and nephew, Halsey. Both are old enough to have cou First sentence: This is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lost her mind, deserted her domestic gods in the city, took a furnished house for the summer out of town, and found herself involved in one of those mysterious crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous.

Premise/plot: The novel opens with Rachel Innes, "Aunt Ray," deciding to rent a large country house in the summer to share with her niece, Gertrude, and nephew, Halsey. Both are old enough to have courtship and marriage on their minds. Gertrude being madly in love with a Mr. Bailey, and Halsey being mad for a Miss Louise Armstrong. (It is actually the Armstrong's home which they are renting for the summer. Though Aunt Ray isn't aware that her nephew is in love with the wealthy young daughter. The Armstrongs are supposed to be vacationing in California for the summer.) Problems start almost immediately. Faces in the window. Strange noises in the night. Scratches on the staircase that weren't there before. Day by day, night by night it just keeps getting creepier. It's a day or two before the first dead body shows up....

Liddy is the only "servant" from the city accompanying Miss Innes. Servants are hired in the country--and without references too--Miss Innes is so desperate for help. It seems servants--young, old, male and female--are easily frightened by murder and burglary.

My thoughts: I wanted to love this one. I didn't. I liked it here and there. I couldn't decide if Miss Innes was for real. If she was supposed to be taken seriously or not. There were times in her narration where she just seemed to be oh-so-blind to the humanity of those around her. For example,

There was no laudanum, and Liddy made a terrible fuss when I proposed carbolic acid, just because I had put too much on the cotton once and burned her mouth. I’m sure it never did her any permanent harm; indeed, the doctor said afterward that living on liquid diet had been a splendid rest for her stomach. But she would have none of the acid, and she kept me awake groaning, so at last I got up and went to Gertrude’s door. To my surprise, it was locked.

Or,

Halsey bought a car, of course, and I learned how to tie over my bonnet a gray baize veil, and, after a time, never to stop to look at the dogs one has run down. People are apt to be so unpleasant about their dogs.

If readers were supposed to find her charming, delightful, lovable, a woman of great intelligence and wit...I wasn't ready to accept her as such.

As for the mystery, I found it very confusing. I didn't find the narration straight-forward enough to help with the clues. Everything was cleared up by the end of the book. I loved, loved, loved the first sentence. The rest, not so much. ...more

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Oct 16, 2018 Carol Evans rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, classics

The Circular Staircase is the first of Mary Roberts Rinehart’s novels I’ve read. I don’t know why it has taken me so long to get around to reading her.

The Circular Staircase is apparently the first example of the “Had-I-But-Known” school of mystery writing. The Had-I-But-Known mystery novel is one where the principal character (frequently female, in this case Rachel Innes) does things in connection with a crime that have the effect of prolonging the action of the novel. Ms. Innes keeps informati The Circular Staircase is the first of Mary Roberts Rinehart’s novels I’ve read. I don’t know why it has taken me so long to get around to reading her.

The Circular Staircase is apparently the first example of the “Had-I-But-Known” school of mystery writing. The Had-I-But-Known mystery novel is one where the principal character (frequently female, in this case Rachel Innes) does things in connection with a crime that have the effect of prolonging the action of the novel. Ms. Innes keeps information from the police, does her own investigation, actively hides things the police should know – basically she’s a standard amateur detective. I take that back, she literally hides people, which is taking the whole thing a little far. Of course, she’s surrounded by people who are keeping secrets too, but they are suspects, so that’s expected.

So, Ms. Innes, her niece and nephew, and her maid move into a rented country house for the summer. The owners, a rich banker and his wife, are in California. Almost immediately, odd things start happening. There’s a mysterious person outside the window and odd tapping noises in the night. A few days later, a person is killed, found dead at the bottom of the staircase. And that’s just the beginning. We’ve got embezzled money, an heiress in hiding, and a missing nephew, in addition to the spooky noises and unexplained movements in the house. Liddy, the maid, is convinced the place is haunted.

Rachel Innes is a great character. She’s a middle-aged spinster who is smart, feisty, and independent. She ties all of the incidents together, even if she is not as entirely cooperative with the police as she should be. She wants to solve the mystery, indeed refuses to give up the house until her questions are answered, but she has people she needs to protect to. I also really enjoyed her relationship with Liddy. They bicker but you can tell how much they care about each other. The conversations with Liddy provide the bits of humor.

The book was written in 1908 and although bordering melodramatic at times, it’s a better read than a lot of current mysteries. It is racist at times, though, especially when it comes to the servants. I guess I tend to overlook that in older books, whether or not I should. It’s not terribly sexist though. Ms. Innes is tough and practical and her niece keeps a level-head for the most part too. Neither are fainting at any opportunity and Ms. Innes is certainly not waiting for a man to figure out the mystery, although they are nice to have around to watch the doors at night
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Sep 16, 2010 Laura Anne rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: north-america, mystery

I loved reading this turn-of-the-century mystery when I was in elementary school. It was suspenseful, mysterious, and just a teeny-bit scary. Re-reading it as an adult, I discovered that it was also hilarious. I smile every time the rational and sarcastic spinster-heroine and her terrified servant start to bicker over the supposed supernatural-happenings.

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Sep 28, 2016 Diane rated it liked it

Shelves: mysteries-north-american

Secrets and lies. The book would have been a short story but for all the secrets and lies. Overall I did like the plot and the characters except for the very dated and offensive attitude toward minorities. I must say though, I did start to have a vague feeling of being waterlogged from all the sobbing of the young ladies. My goodness, could they cry.

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Aug 12, 2020 Mary Ellen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery

Rachel Innes, spinster aunt, who is fond of her niece and nephew, whom she raised when their parents died young, takes a house in the country for the summer. The siblings, Halsey and Gertrude, had encouraged the rental, being familiar with the ares, its golf course, and club. The house is owned by the Armstrong family who are away in the west for the summer.

The first night in the house is sleepless due to an intruder and the mysterious appearance of a golf club on the circular stairs. The second ...more

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Mar 09, 2019 P. rated it it was ok

The plot is rambling, and convoluted, and messy, and Gothic. The heroine [really an anti-heroine] is a self-centered bossy woman. The other characters are ill-defined and vague, and the women - all of them - kept fainting.

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Sep 23, 2013 Laura rated it it was ok

Shelves: crime-mystery-fiction

I have been enjoying reading (in some cases, re-reading) classic mysteries lately; this is one I loaded onto my Kindle for vacation reading. Meh. This has too much of everything. The tropes are thick upon the ground here.

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Oct 08, 2017 Stephanie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-cozy

I really enjoyed this mystery and found that the audiobook I had was very good. The mystery meanders some, but it rather gives more flavor. This is a first person mystery featuring an elderly uppercrust woman moving into a house that she has rented for the summer. Stuff starts the first night.

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