Mary Roberts Rinehart
1) The Door
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In a quiet old mansion, an aging spinster contemplates questions of murder Elizabeth Bell runs a quiet household, with no family and no more than the usual number of servants. She passes her time thinking about crime and working on her biography of a relative. When a young cousin comes to stay, life in the house becomes uncharacteristically lively. First, cousin Judy burns a hole in Miss Bell's desk. Next, they spy a burglar on the staircase-a shadowy...
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In a nearly empty house, a young woman finds herself alone with a killer As far as Carol Spencer is concerned, the war has spoiled everything. She and Don had been engaged for years and were on the verge of marriage when he was shot down in the South Pacific, leaving Carol on the verge of spinsterhood at twenty-four. She wants to take some kind of job in the war effort, but her invalid mother demands that Carol accompany her to the family's summer...
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Stories of domestic anguish and delight from an American master On a transatlantic voyage, a man fills with rage as his wife fusses over her makeup, filling their cramped cabin with powders, oils, and discarded clothes. It would be fine if he could open the porthole, but the porter has ordered it shut-lest a German submarine spot the light. Back in America, an old man with failing health stares out his window and worries about the world. And the wife...
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A locked-room murder keeps a nurse-turned-sleuth on guard in this Golden Age mystery. If the dissolute nephew of elderly Juliet Mitchell committed suicide, then why has the Homicide Squad enlisted the help of nurse Hilda Adams at the Mitchell mansion? Because Inspector Patton has his doubts about Herbert's death-even though he died by gunshot in his locked bedroom. The services of the bureau's indispensable sleuth, "Miss Pinkerton," are twofold: to...
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A boarder comes to live with three women and finds them frighteningly strange From the outside, it seems like the three women of the Bayne house are frozen in time. There is Mrs. Bayne, an aging widow obsessed with propriety; her sister, Margaret, a spinster whose desperate loneliness is eating her from the inside out; and young Holly, a beautiful creature with a vibrancy that fades a little each day. Her only hope is Furness Brooks, a playboy with...
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"The Classic Collection of Mary Roberts Rinehart" offers a comprehensive selection of novels and short stories from the esteemed American author. Renowned for her gripping mysteries and engaging characters, Rinehart's works have enthralled readers for generations.
This anthology includes the iconic Miss Cornelia Van Gorder series, featuring the intrepid amateur detective as she unravels complex mysteries in her signature style. From eerie old mansions...
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Ten tales of married life: happy, sad, and blood-soaked Clarke Wellington supposes it's time he murdered his wife. Dolly isn't a promiscuous woman, and she isn't violent, but she is stingy, petty, and cruel, and she runs her household with a tyranny that has turned her husband into a mouse and her children into frightened little automatons. Of course, it's easy to make this kind of decision, but much harder to follow through. When a man hasn't stood...
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Illness, jealousy, and murder poison the atmosphere in an ultrawealthy community Pat comes from the village of Beverly, a charming country suburb whose inhabitants hate everything about the patch of gaudy mansions that have sprung up around it. The gaudiest of all belongs to Maud Wainwright, a bullish old widow whose famous dining room table has room for an even hundred. Orphaned and near destitute, Pat goes to work for Mrs. Wainwright, finding her...
9) Nomad's Land
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A memoir of desert travel-by camel and horseback-from a beloved author An internationally renowned writer of mystery fiction, Mary Roberts Rinehart knows her way around an exotic setting. When faced with the Pyramids, the Nile, and the sprawling Egyptian desert in her own life, she does not fall in with the crowd of tourists waiting in line at the tombs of the Pharaohs. Instead, she hikes up her skirt, plants her pumps in the sand, and hops on a camel....
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On trial for murder, a young bride recalls the steps that led her to the dock The state has accused beautiful young Elinor Norton of murder, and she refuses to mount a defense. Guilt is written all over her elegant features, but her childhood best friend refuses to believe it when Elinor confesses to the crime. Forced into a dull marriage against her will, Elinor is just beginning to adjust to life with Lloyd when she meets the man who will tear her...
11) The Haunted Lady
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A dowager is being scared to death in this classic whodunit by a #1 New York Times–bestselling master. It's enough to stop Eliza Fairbanks's heart. At least that's what the elderly widow claims is being done to her. First, someone unleashes a cloud of bats in her locked bedroom. When that doesn't do the trick, next comes a pack of rats to claw at her toes. Special duty nurse Hilda Adams, aka "Miss Pinkerton" to the Homicide Bureau, believes Eliza's...
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When a friend comes to her with a problem, Tish springs into action-no matter how much trouble it's going to cause In the title tale of this collection by Mary Roberts Rinehart, after a long, chaotic life, Tish Carberry retires to her apartment, hoping for a bit of peace and quiet. But why, her friends wonder, does it sound like someone's practicing riflery in her living room? No one would be surprised if Tish had converted her parlor into a shooting...
13) The Wall
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An unwelcome visitor arrives at a seaside home to find that death awaits her there The house called Sunset has been Marcia's summer home for her entire life. Both of her parents died there, and she and her brother spent their youth exploring its rambling hallways and seaside grounds. They love the old house, but Marcia's sister-in-law has never taken to it. Juliette loathes the sea, and soon comes to loathe her husband, as well. After they divorce,...
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Three tales from a mystery master whose "literary distinction lies in the combination of love, humor and murder that she wove into her tales" (The New York Times). The Episode of the Wandering Knife: What's a mother to do? When her daughter-in-law is slashed to death, the first thing is to hide the hunting knife that's sure to implicate her innocent son. But it doesn't stay hidden for long. It's just turned up in a second victim, only to vanish once...
15) The Romantics
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Stories of true romance, from youth to middle age and beyond An elderly couple sits on a park bench, murmuring compliments to each other, and passing gentle judgment on the crowds that pass them by. They are alone-no children, no friends, nothing but their memories to keep them company. Are they happy? Or is true love no longer enough to sustain them? While this couple sits on the bench, remembering faded passions, young people are falling in love...
16) The Doctor
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The medical profession is supplying background for first rate novels-and this combines the authenticity of first hand knowledge with the sureness of touch of Mrs. Rinehart at her best....A meaty novel (nary a whiff of mystery) about the two forces in a doctor's life, his love of his profession at odds with his love of a woman. Always the profession comes to thwart his romance, circumstances drive him into another marriage and it is through the wife...
17) The Album
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On a quiet cul-de-sac, an elderly invalid is slaughtered with an axe Crescent Place was once a peaceful country green surrounded by five tasteful suburban houses and populated by polite, responsible citizens. But as the city enveloped it, the residents built a gate to keep the world out. With each passing year, the subdivision grew stranger and stranger-until it began to look like a time capsule of the 1890s. In these houses are a husband and wife...