Mary Roberts Rinehart

Mary Roberts Rinehart was a highly successful mystery novelist and playwright in the first half of the twentieth century. (She also wrote the “Tish” books, a comedic series of feminist novels about a group of women trying out some pretty wild and crazy stuff, from shark-hunting to ambulance-driving in WWI France.) The quality of her books was uneven, but her best books are remarkable examples of Golden-Age detective fiction.

Note: The phrase “The butler did it” is said to have originated from Rinehart’s story The Door (in which the butler did do it), although those exact words are not used in the book.

Aftertaste:
None.

Availability:
Limited.

Other Recommendations:
Any of the mysteries by Georgette Heyer

Anything by Josephine Tey

Anything by Dorothy Sayers