Mary Roberts Rinehart
Mary Roberts Rinehart (August 12, 1876-September 22, 1958) was a prolific American writer who dealt mostly in the mystery genre. She is considered to have created the Had I but know... school of mystery writing and also coined the term - "The Butler did it." She also wrote comedies, nurse fiction and what is also considered "mainstream" fiction (which were often reprinted as romance novels - even though romance may not have a key feature in them). Rinehart does not appear to have had a happy married life and in her romance/mainstream fiction novels the husbands are always portrayed in a negative light but she was a very loving mother and motherhood is always shown as one of the crowning achievements that a woman can accomplish.
On the Web
Books
Fiction
- The Window at the White Cat (1910)
- Where There's a Will (1912)
- The Cave on Thundercloud (1912)
- Mind Over Motor (1912)
- The Case of Jennie Brice (1913)
- The After House (1914)
- K (1915)
- The Amazing Interlude (1918)
- Dangerous Days (1919)
- Salvage (1919)
- A Poor Wise Man (1920)
- The Truce of God (1920)
- The Breaking Point (1922)
- The Red Lamp (1925)
- The Mystery Lamp (1925)
- Two Flights Up (1928)
- This Strange Adventure (1929)
- The Door (1930)
- The Double Alibi (1932)
- The Bat (1932) (with Avery Hopwood)
- The Album (1933)
- The State Vs Elinor Norton (1933)
- The Wall (1938)
- The Great Mistake (1940)
- The Yellow Room (1945)
- The Confession (1946)
- Sight Unseen (1946)
- The Swimming Pool (1952)
- The Wandering Knife (1952)
- The Frightened Wife (1953)
- The Street of Seven Stars (1966)
Non-Fiction
- My Story (1931)
Series/Related Titles
Hilda Adams
- Miss Pinkerton (1932)
- Haunted Lady (1942)
- Episode of the Wandering Knife (1950)
Letitia (Tish) Carberry
- The Amazing Adventures of Letitia Carberry (1911)
- Tish (1916)
- More Tish (1921)
- The Book of Tish (1926)
- Tish Plays the Game (1926)
- Tish Marches On (1937)
Miss Cornelia Van Gorder
- 1. The Man in Lower Ten (1906)
- 2. The Circular Staircase (1908)
Awards/Honors
The Rinehart career was crowned with a Mystery Writers of America Special Award a year after she published her last novel ... and by the award, as early as 1923, of an honorary Doctorate in Literature from George Washington University.
