The Circular
Staircase is a mystery novel
written by Mary Roberts Rinehart and was originally published in
1908. In this book, Rinehart’s first bestseller, Rachel Innes, a
well-to-do spinstress rents a home in the country for the summer. Her
orphaned niece and nephew, Gertrude and Halsey, who are in their
early twenties and are in her custody arrive to the rented house the
day after Rachel. On the her first night at the house, Rachel starts
hearing noises in the stairway at around 3:00 AM. When she opens her
bedroom door to investigate, the noises had stopped and nobody is
there. When Gertrude and
Halsey arrive the next day, Halsey has a friend along who plans on
staying the night. That night there are gun shots in the house, again
at 3:00 AM. When they get downstairs, there is a dead body on the
floor and Halsey, along with his friend have disappeared. Rachel
decides to try solving this crime since it appears the Halsey and
Gertrude might be implicated with the murder. Along the way, many
more mysterious things happen.
The
way this book is written, the author draws the readers in and keeps
their attention by everything that goes on without
there being too much that would cause readers to get confused. There
is plenty action and mysteries in this book and is a very good read.
If
interested in reading this book, you can download it in various
formats from the following sites:
Project
Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/434
Barnes
& Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-circular-staircase-by-mary-roberts-rinehart-mary-roberts-rinehart/1028636253?ean=2940012539243
World
of Sleuths Rating: ➷➷➹➹➹
(Five out of six arrows)
Terrific review Tim. I adored her books as a teenager. Thanks so much for the Gutenberg link. I downloaded this & am excited to re-read it as I’ve forgotten so much of the story.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading and commenting! I give links for all the books I review. With the ones in the Public Domain, such as this one, I give the links to get it for free from Project Gutenberg or Many Boos so that you can download them for free.
DeleteHaven’t tried many books but will check it out.
ReplyDeleteCheers!