The Circular Staircase
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Rachel Innes, a middle-aged spinster, has barely settled in at the country house she has rented for the summer when a series of bizarre and violent events threaten to perturb her normally unflappable nature. A strange figure appears briefly in the twilight outside a window. At night, a rattling, metallic sound reverberates through dark halls, and—most disconcerting of all—the body of a strange man is found lying in a pool of blood at the bottom of a circular staircase.
Before this spine-tingling tale ends, five connected deaths shatter the normally placid atmosphere of the vacation retreat. Rachel’s devoted niece and nephew are among the prime suspects in one of the murders; stolen securities and a bank default threaten the young pair’s financial security, and Aunt “Ray” ultimately fights for her life in an airless secret room.
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Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958) was a novelist and playwright best known for her mystery stories, which combined humor with ingenuity. The success of her novels The Circular Staircase and The Man in Lower Ten established her reputation as an important American mystery writer. At one time she was the highest paid writer in America. In addition to mysteries, she wrote comic tales, plays, romances, and travel books, some of which reflected her experiences as a correspondent during World War I. One critic called her autobiography, My Story, her finest book.
