About the author: Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876 – 1958) was an American writer, often called the American Agatha Christie, although her first mystery novel was published 14 years before Christie's first novel in 1920. Rinehart is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it" from her novel The Door (1930), although the novel does not use the exact phrase. Rinehart is also considered to have invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing, with the publication of The Circular Staircase (1908). (from a Wikipedia article).
Major characters:
- Miss Agnes Blakiston, the summer tenant, and our narrator
- Maggie, her maid
- Willie, her nephew
- Miss Emily Benton, the house owner
- Anne Bullard, telephone operator
- Martin Sprague, nerve specialist
Locale: not stated
Synopsis: Agnes Blakiston, as is her custom, seeks out a summer house rental in the country. She finds the perfect house, offered by Miss Emily Benton. Emily has a couple strange requirements. She wants the house rented out, no matter what, and no matter how low the rent is - even free, if necessary. Second, she insists it not only be rented, but be occupied.
Agnes is happy with the arrangement and moves in, with her maid Maggie. Maggie immediately takes a dislike to the house and to Emily. Then the hall telephone begins to ring in the middle of the night - and no one is there. Next, Agnes finds evidence that someone has been in the downstairs rooms during the nights: burnt matches, candles partly consumed, things moved about slightly. Agnes realizes that the two phenonema never occur on the same night - leading her to conclude the overnight visitor is also the one ringing the phone.
At the urging of her nephew Willie, Agnes consults her nerve specialist, Martin Sprague, who suggests that either Agnes is imagining things, or Emily has something in her past she is trying to reveal. Emily falls ill, and is cared for by Anne Bullard, who is also the night telephone operator; and is protective of Emily.
The strange occurrences all center around the hall telephone. Agnes asks Emily if she can install an upstairs extension, but Emily nixes the idea. Emily visits and hangs about the hall phone, and drops and loses a coin which slides under the telephone's battery box on the floor. Later, Maggie sets out to retrieve the coin, and opens the battery box to find a five year old murder confession written by Emily; and concludes Emily's actions have been trying to subtly direct attention to it. The question is: was this a real murder or just Emily's imagination?
Review: Three things I know of were born in 1921: My mother, our piano, and this story. This story is now 100 years old. For the first time in ages, I just had to finish a book in one sitting - staying up much past my usual bedtime. The various phenomena which seem supernatural at first all have explanations - and it is chilling how Emily tries to attract attention to the battery box.
Rinehart always has a subtle humor. Agnes wants to identify the nighttime visitor, and so sprinkles flour on the floor to detect footprints (was this inspired by the account of Bel and the Dragon in the extended biblical book of Daniel?). She wants to determine if she is really creating the phenomena herself, and has Maggie lock her in the bedroom so she cannot get out to make footprints and burn the candles down herself.
I enjoyed her method of visiting the church and getting clues from the windows and the graveyard. The story has an eye-opening twist at the end, with a most satisfying ending.
See also this review by Bev Hankins on My Reader's Block.
Be sure to visit The Mystillery for my mystery reading challenges!
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