The Circular Staircase

<p><em>The Circular Staircase</em> blends classic gothic elements with early detective fiction as an unlikely heroine uncovers dark secrets buried within a stately home. Combining sharp wit with mounting suspense the novel helped shape the American mystery genre introducing readers to atmospheric crime-solving long before it became mainstream. At once chilling and charming it's a tale of resilience revelation and the perilous path to the truth.</p><p>Mary Roberts Rinehart - known as The American Agatha Christie - was born in 1876 in Allegheny City Pennsylvania. She started writing as a way to earn income after a heavy stock market loss in 1903. She wrote <em>The Circular Staircase</em> her first novel in 1908. The book sold over a million copies and propelled Rinehart to national fame.</p><p>A regular contributor to the <em>Saturday Evening Post</em> Rinehart served as the first woman war correspondent to the Belgian front during WWI. In 1929 she helped her sons found the publishing house Farrar & Rinehart serving as its director. In hundreds of short stories Rinehart developed enduring series characters like Letitia (Tish) Carberry and Nurse-Detective Hilda Adams (Miss Pinkerton). She is credited with inventing the phrase The Butler Did It from her novel <em>The Door</em> (1930) and many of her books and plays were adapted into movies including<em> I Take This Woman</em> starring Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard (1931).</p><p>Recognizing her long contribution to the mystery field The Mystery Writers of America awarded Mary Roberts Rinehart a Special Edgar Award in 1954. She died on September 22 1958 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.</p>