The Circular Staircase - Mary Roberts Rinehart

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Résumé :
1908. The Circular Staircase is Rinehart's most famous story. The tale mixes chilling suspense and romance with good humor to produce an absorbing and entertaining mystery. Middle-aged spinster Rachel Innes leases a country house for the summer. Her plans for a restful vacation are soon interrupted by niece and nephew and unaware that the old house hides a sinister secret they unwittingly set off a chain of mysterious and murderous events. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Biographie:
Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876 - 1958) was an American writer, often called the American Agatha Christie, although her first mystery novel was published 14 years before Christie's first novel in 1920. Rinehart is considered the source of the phrase The butler did it from her novel The Door (1930), although the novel does not use the exact phrase. Rinehart is also considered to have invented the Had-I-But-Known school of mystery writing, with the publication of The Circular Staircase (1908).