Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Circular Staircase, 1908
The Circular Staircase is the first novel written by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1958), who was often considered the "American Agatha Christie."
Unlike Christie, or for that matter Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Circular Staircase is not narrated by the detective's admirer. It is narrated in the first person by Rachel Innes, a woman of a certain age, who does more to solve the murder than the detective. We know right away that our narrator is a woman:
The newspaper accounts have been so garbled and incomplete—one of them mentioned me but once, and then only as the tenant at the time the thing happened—that I feel it my due to tell what I know. Mr. Jamieson, the detective, said himself he could never have done without me, although he gave me little enough credit, in print.
I'm sure there were meetings where Detective Jamieson took credit for Miss Innes's ideas.
Rachel Innis is a "maiden aunt" with a niece and nephew, now adults, whom she raised from childhood at the unexpected death of their parents. The three of them rent a home for the summer, called Sunnyside (when did we stop giving houses cool names?) together with Rachel's maid/servant/lady-in-waiting, Liddy. Sunnyside is located halfway between the Adirondacks and Bar Harbor, as the American upper classes need some sort of diverting entertainment whilst they while away the summer.
Immediately upon their arrival however, the permanent house staff all quit on the spot, offering thin excuses of health concerns, etc. Strange things have been happening in the house. Mary Anne, a housemaid had quit and, Liddy, being more sensible than her mistress suggests leaving the house behind and says she's quitting:
“Mary Anne was a fool,” I said sternly. “If there had been a man there, she would have had him in the kitchen and been feeding him what was left from dinner, inside of an hour, from force of habit. Now don’t be ridiculous. Lock up the house and go to bed. I am going to read.”
But Liddy set her lips tight and stood still.
“I’m not going to bed,” she said. “I am going to pack up, and to-morrow I am going to leave.”
“You’ll do nothing of the sort,” I snapped. Liddy and I often desire to part company, but never at the same time. “If you are afraid, I will go with you, but for goodness’ sake don’t try to hide behind me.”
Of course, Liddy was absolutely right, in the wee hours that night, a shot rings out and a body is discovered. You'll never guess where! That's right! At the foot of the circular staircase that leads directly into the card room!
How did this person get in the house? The doors and windows were (surprise!) locked. The mystery deepens when the detective shows up and tells them that the victim was Arnold Armstrong, the son of the house's owner, Paul Armstrong. Clues abound, but none seem to go anywhere but in a circle. Eventually, after many false leads, the mystery is untangled, not that the maiden aunt gets any credit.
Rinehart began writing in 1903 when her family lost their fortune in the 1903 depression. She was very prolific and successful, more successful than Christie for a time. She was also a badass, serving as a war correspondent on the Belgian front during World War I.
She deserved her success, I found this book much wittier and enjoyable than Christie's books. It is marred by an unfortunate portrayal of the loyal Black servant who is portrayed as a bit of simpleton with a minstrel show accent. It was 1908, after all.
Rinehart adapted many of her books for the stage and eventually into motion pictures. The Circular Staircase was filmed as a silent movie in 1915, but unfortunately no prints of it remain:
Rinehart adapted the book into a play entitled The Bat. In the play she introduced a mysterious figure, dressed as a bat. In 1926, She adapted the play into a blockbuster motion picture entitled, The Bat Whispers.
A young man named Bob Kane loved The Bat Whispers and was so inspired by it that he created a new superhero based on it: The Batman. Take that, Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan, you owe your success to Mary Roberts Rinehart.
A 1959 remake of The Bat Whispers starred Vincent Price and the perfectly-cast Agnes Moorhead. Yes, this is the second time I've worked Agnes Moorhead into my reviews. I don't regret a thing.
Free ebook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/434
Free audiobook: https://librivox.org/the-circular-staircase-by-mary-roberts-rinehart/
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