The hall. The living room. The card room. The billiard room. No, I'm not referring to Clue. I'm referring to Mary Rinehart's exciting 1908 mystery novel "The Circular Staircase:" a well-mapped "Who Done It" mystery with a dash of early Edwardian culture to boot.
Middle-aged spinster, Miss Rachel Innes, rents a large house, Sunnyside, for a summer of relaxation. Sunnyside has different plans, though. She is accompanied by her grown nephew and niece, Halsey and Gertrude, respectively, and her maid, Liddy Allen. Sunnyside is a mansion, with numerous rooms and a circular staircase. It is owned by a Mr. Paul Armstrong, the owner of the Trader's Bank. Miss Innes is not long at Sunnyside before becoming emotionally and physically tangled in the confusing web of a first-rate mystery.
Shortly after her arrival, Miss Innes and her household is visited in the middle of the night by a mysterious invader, who leaves nothing behind except a cuff-link and a few dents on the circular staircase. The following night, the son of Paul Armstrong is murdered. The prime suspects are Gertrude's fiance and Halsey. The police and a detective, Mr. Jamieson, arrive to unravel the mystery, but it is Miss Innes, the teller of the tale, who is the true heroine of the story. A plucky woman, with a dry sense of humor, Miss Innes is the perfect protagonist for "The Circular Staircase."
Middle-aged spinster, Miss Rachel Innes, rents a large house, Sunnyside, for a summer of relaxation. Sunnyside has different plans, though. She is accompanied by her grown nephew and niece, Halsey and Gertrude, respectively, and her maid, Liddy Allen. Sunnyside is a mansion, with numerous rooms and a circular staircase. It is owned by a Mr. Paul Armstrong, the owner of the Trader's Bank. Miss Innes is not long at Sunnyside before becoming emotionally and physically tangled in the confusing web of a first-rate mystery.
Shortly after her arrival, Miss Innes and her household is visited in the middle of the night by a mysterious invader, who leaves nothing behind except a cuff-link and a few dents on the circular staircase. The following night, the son of Paul Armstrong is murdered. The prime suspects are Gertrude's fiance and Halsey. The police and a detective, Mr. Jamieson, arrive to unravel the mystery, but it is Miss Innes, the teller of the tale, who is the true heroine of the story. A plucky woman, with a dry sense of humor, Miss Innes is the perfect protagonist for "The Circular Staircase."
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