The Circular Staircase by May Roberts Rinehart

 I am taking a new look at Mary Roberts Rinehart. She was a very popular and successful mystery writer in her day. She published many of her novels as serials in magazines. The Circular Staircase which was published in 1908 was her first book to be published in book form. 

She wrote in a time when most mystery stories dealt with a serious male detective who studied a crime which had been already been committed and then found a solution. This is the Sherlock Holmes format. She wrote about characters who were in the midst of crimes being committed. They were frightened, possibly even terrified, but then gathered their wits together and tried to figure out what was going on. This allowed the reader to identify with the characters and follow the steps which would lead to the solution. Frequently the main character was a woman. and she became friends with the police detective who was working on a the case. Possibly she was a bit sharper that the policeman.  If you are familiar with the cozy mystery novels being written today, you will see that this a format which is still being followed today.

This book begins with the 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 newpapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous". This wonderful sentence does provide a summary of the frightening summer experienced by Rachel Innes, a very well to do spinster who rents a house from Paul Armstrong,  a successful banker, for the summer. This is not a summer cottage. It is a very large house with many rooms, and requires her to employ a number of servants. She will be sharing the house with her niece Gertrude Innes and her nephew Halsey Innes

 The house had a reputation for mysterious noises even before she rented it. but things became more frightening when Arnold Armstrong, the son of Paul, was shot to death in the house. Then Rachel became involved with secrets involving the murder, and the relationship of Gertrude and Halsey to members of the Armstrong family. Gertrude was also romantically involved with Jack Bailey who had worked at the bank, and had been accused of stealing a large amount of money. Rachel Innes became very aware that members of her family were keeping secrets from her. Then the Armstrong bank crashed losing a lot of money. The plot is certainly thickening, and Rachel has a lot of things to figure out. 

To avoid making this description of the book overly long, I will tell you that Rachel undertakes her own investigation of the goings on in her rented house. Inspector Jamieson from the police assists but Rachel is the one who will solve the murders and finds the causes of the mysterious events. The ending is quite dramatic and makes enjoyable reading.