The Circular Staircase (1908)
This is an iconic mystery novel written by an iconic mystery author who suffers both neglect (by modern mystery readers) and derision (by many mystery critics both past and present). Although The Circular Staircase was Rinehart’s second (magazine) published novel length mystery, it by chance was published in hardcover a year before her first long mystery, The Man in Lower Ten, saw book publication.
Rinehart initially intended that her story be at least partially a satire of the murder mysteries of her time. She supposedly toned down the satirical content of the serialized magazine version when preparing the manuscript for book publication because it soon became apparent that readers were generally ignoring the satire and instead were concentrating on the compelling plot and interesting characters.
A bare-bones plot summary of The Circular Staircase is as follows: Spinster heiress Rachel Innes (aged about 50 or so) rents a country house for the summer to seek rest, relaxation and escape from the intrusive remodeling work being performed on her city house. She moves into the ironically named Sunnyside country mansion along with her beloved adult niece and nephew and numerous household servants. Mysterious events ensue which rapidly lead to a murder. More mysterious events and several more deaths follow. An embezzlement scheme, a hidden room and the astonishing number of secrets the cast of characters try to keep from each other are the main plot drivers.
The Circular Staircase is as readable today as it was in 1908. Although Rinehart read and was clearly influenced by the books of Anna Katherine Green (1846-1935), she brought her own fresh approach and style to the mystery genre. Rachel Innes is the first of several intelligent, wry, strong-willed, blunt spoken yet warmhearted female narrators created by Rinehart during her fifty-year long writing career.
In addition to employing a strong narrative voice and creating engaging characters, Rinehart also managed to inject humor into her writing: Not, for the most part, a farce-like humor as seen in her wonderful Tish stories, but a more subtle, ironic and understated type of humor that one might expect to find in a mid rather than early Twentieth Century American novel. Those instances where Rinehart broadens her humor mostly involve the character of Liddy Allen, Rachel’s longtime personal maid. The scenes where Liddy reacts to mysterious noises, ghosts, uppity fellow servants and the peculiarities of country life are laugh out loud funny. On the other hand, the warm, loving, sister-like yet prickly relationship between Liddy and Rachel displays another aspect of Rinehart’s writing talent. Many serious novelists could learn much from the way that Rinehart smoothly and subtly reveals to her readers how complex and deep this employee/employer relationship has become over time.
Since Rinehart was the originator of the “Had I But Known” school of mystery fiction, one can certainly find several HIBK moments in TheCircular Staircase. These instances do not unduly detract from the narrative and were most likely originally incorporated into the story because Rinehart wanted to signal her magazine readers that exciting and dangerous events were about to occur. Rinehart should not be held accountable for all the literary abuses inflicted on readers by later, less accomplished writers who copied this questionable but effective foreshadowing device and made it central to their own writing styles.
The Circular Staircase is a mystery story. It is not a fairly-clued Golden Age detective story for the simple reason that the Golden Age of Detective Fiction had not yet begun. Later, during the actual Golden Age years (1918-1939 or more broadly 1913-195?), Rinehart would write detective novels that were more fairly-clued and thus more closely aligned with the traditional Golden Age style. Two that come to mind are Miss Pinkerton (1932) and Haunted Lady (1942) both featuring her series sleuth nurse/undercover police detective Hilda Adams (nicknamed Miss Pinkerton). Even in these two books Rinehart only grudgingly follows the “play fair with the reader” dictum. She is much closer to Doyle, Chesterton and Post than to true Golden Age practitioners such as Christie, Sayers, Queen and Carr in that Rinehart is more interested in writing compelling stories rather than strictly adhering to a list of rules.
Rinehart liked to call her mysteries “crime stories” or “crime novels”. Others have labeled them “women’s suspense” and “romantic suspense”. To my knowledge, Rinehart never admitted to aiming her mysteries at a female audience. Since she did tend to emphasize the relationships between and among her characters more than most mystery writers of her own era, it is understandable why she is often labeled as a feminine writer . . . despite all the pulp-like action, violence and scientific-medical content of her stories.
Modern readers may underestimate Rinehart’s rightful prominence in the history of the mystery genre but I believe Xavier Lechard summed up her importance best when he wrote “Rinehart pioneered suspense fiction by focusing on people involved in the problem rather than those who solve it.”
This analysis was greatly aided by the wonderful supplementary material included in the 1977 Mystery Library edition of The Circular Staircase, especially the work of Phyllis A. Whitney and Jan Cohn. Note: A slightly different version of my article appeared on the GAD Wiki.
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Episode of the Wandering Knife (and other stories) 1950
This is an enjoyable collection of three stories consisting of two longish novellas featuring female protagonists sandwiching a short story describing the final case of a police inspector. None are masterpieces but each has its own merits.
“Episode of the Wandering Knife” (1943) leads off the collection. Judy Shepard, the intelligent, athletic, plain-looking pampered daughter of wealthy parents narrates the remarkable series of events that occurred within her extended family household one October week during WWII. The setting is a barely disguised Pittsburgh, PA. Within that memorable week Judy’s sister-in-law is stabbed, her brother is jailed, her mother conceals evidence, a policeman is shot, a woman is defenestrated, a household employee is stabbed, a family secret is unveiled and Judy gets a marriage proposal. Welcome to the world of Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1958). She was once one of America’s most popular writers. Now she is read almost exclusively by aficionados of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. That is a shame. Rinehart has been branded with the dubious distinction of creating the “Had I But Known” School of women’s mystery fiction. That branding, although accurate, is not really fair. The true enablers of the HIBK School were her less talented imitators who latched on to the weakest aspects of Rinehart’s writing style and then proceeded to churn out truckloads of low-grade fiction aimed at a female readership that deserved better. Certainly there are some “HIBK” moments in this story but those few instances do not detract one bit from the narrative. Characters do wander about in the dark but they have plausible reasons for their excursions. This is a well crafted mystery featuring a likable narrator and interesting characters.
The second story, “The Man Who Hid His Breakfast” (1949?), is told from the third person voice, which is not Rinehart’s strong suit. Her fiction has greater impact on the reader when she uses a first person narrator. We are introduced to Inspector Tom Brent, a veteran police detective working on his final case before retirement. The matriarch of a prominent family has been found strangled in her bed. Brent must deflect pressure from his demanding commissioner, who wants the victim’s daughter arrested, while at the same time pursue his own line of investigation. Careless mistakes by the killer and unlikely assistance from a dog help Brent solve the case. Decent plotting, interesting characters and nearly fair clueing make this charming story well worth seeking out.
“The Secret” (1950?), although perhaps the weakest of the three stories, is historically the most important to mystery critics. It is the fifth and final recorded case of undercover police detective/nurse Hilda Adams, nicknamed Miss Pinkerton by her police colleagues. The events of the story seem to be taking place in 1945. Michael Grost speculates that Rinehart wrote it then but could not find a magazine publisher willing to buy the story. Nurse Adams is about 43 years old in this tale and she is showing her age. She has been rejected for overseas war duty partly because of a slight heart problem (reflective of Rinehart’s own heart troubles). Her thwarted efforts to go overseas to aid in the war effort parallel the experience of Rex Stout’s Archie Goodwin who, like Hilda, was more needed on the home front. Her hair is now completely gray and she does nothing to hide it. Her first boss, Inspector Patton, has apparently left the police force to join a big private detective agency, as was foretold in Adams first recorded case “The Buckled Bag” (1914). Why Patton did not take her along and marry her is puzzling since by the end of Hilda’s previous case Haunted Lady (1943) he had clearly fallen in love with her. Inspector Fuller, her current boss, seems equally smitten with the blunt-spoken, sharp- tongued yet warm-hearted undercover nurse.
It is interesting to look at how Rinehart chose to age Adams through the series. Hilda is 28 in the aforementioned “The Buckled Bag”. She is 29 in her second recorded case, “Locked Doors” (1914). Eighteen years later she has only aged about three years to 32 or 33 in Miss Pinkerton (1932). Ten years later she has aged only about six years to 38 or so in Haunted Lady (1942) and as mentioned above, Hilda manages to add on five years in the roughly three intervening years leading up to “The Secret”. Despite her curious aging history, Hilda Adams is a very engaging character. She is a coolly efficient nurse and an effective undercover detective. She is brave when bravery is called for and cautious when caution is needed. Well, maybe not always. She does go about alone in the dark when she feels it is necessary and sometimes gets injured for her trouble but that is no different behavior than Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone often exhibits especially in her early cases. Another curious point concerning the Hilda Adams stories is the fact that Rinehart changed the highly effective first person (Hilda herself) narration of the first three stories to third person narration for the final two tales. There appears to have been no storytelling advantage in making this switch in point of view. In fact, I think it weakens Rinehart’s connection to the reader. “The Secret”, like all the Adams adventures, is set in an unnamed, midsize river city located somewhere between New York and Chicago which can only be Pittsburgh. As is customary, she is planted in the household of a wealthy family that appears to be experiencing mysterious events. Nurse Adams investigates the erratic and dangerous behavior of the 20-year-old daughter of an absent Army Colonel and his beautiful but self indulgent wife. Hilda deduces that daughter’s strange behavior can only be linked to one of three causes: adultery, espionage or disease. The unfortunate problem with this story is that Rinehart chose the wrong cause and is forced to conclude the storyline in a far-fetched and somewhat disappointing manner similar to the flawed ending of “Locked Doors”. Hilda, like a great actress working with a mediocre script, carries out her undercover duties with grace and intelligence. Had Rinehart been able send Hilda Adams off into the sunset with a higher quality story or had she chosen to write more adventures for her nurse detective, perhaps the Miss Pinkerton saga would not have fallen into the current neglect it certainly does not deserve. Final point regarding the finances of Hilda Adams. She could always get hospital nurse work and she readily could get private nurse duty if she wanted it. When working undercover for the police, Hilda would be paid both by the police and the family into whose home she was planted. Hilda must have built up quite a nice nest egg for herself because of this “double dipping” aspect of her employment. One hopes that she invested wisely and enjoyed a rich and fulfilling retirement.
Here is my roundup of the Hilda Adams stories:
- “The Buckled Bag”, novella, 1914, Rating A
- “Locked Doors”, novella, 1914, Rating D
- Miss Pinkerton, novel, 1932, Rating B
- Haunted Lady, novel, 1942, Rating B-
- (All of the above stories were collected in Miss Pinkerton, Adventures of a Nurse Detective (1959?)
- “The Secret”, novella, 1950? Rating C
I posted a slightly different version of this article to the GAD Wiki in 2008.
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