"The Circular Staircase" by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill, (1908). First edition. Author's first book
This 1908 whodunit is the author’s first. Rachel is a middle-aged spinster who has had custody of her orphaned niece and nephew since they were children. Halsey and Gertrude are now 20 and 24, respectively, and they talk Rachel into renting a house in the country for the summer. The house they choose belonged to a bank defaulter who had hidden stolen securities in the walls.
The first night Rachel is there, there is a mysterious trespasser and something falls down the stairs in the middle of the night. After Halsey and Gertrude arrive on the second night, there is a murder, and Halsey and the friend he’s brought to stay disappear. Halsey returns a few days later, without his friend and without an explanation, but by then other strange goings-on have occurred to the dismay of the residents.
"The Circular Staircase" by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill, (1908). First edition. Author's first book
This 1908 whodunit is the author’s first. Rachel is a middle-aged spinster who has had custody of her orphaned niece and nephew since they were children. Halsey and Gertrude are now 20 and 24, respectively, and they talk Rachel into renting a house in the country for the summer. The house they choose belonged to a bank defaulter who had hidden stolen securities in the walls.
The first night Rachel is there, there is a mysterious trespasser and something falls down the stairs in the middle of the night. After Halsey and Gertrude arrive on the second night, there is a murder, and Halsey and the friend he’s brought to stay disappear. Halsey returns a few days later, without his friend and without an explanation, but by then other strange goings-on have occurred to the dismay of the residents.