The Circular Staircase

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 1922. The Circular Staircase follows dowager Rachel Innes as she thwarts a series of strange crimes at a summer home she has rented with her niece and nephew. The novel was Rinehart's first bestseller and established her one of the era's most popular writers.