Friday Forgotten (or Overlooked) Book:THE YELLOW ROOM (1945) by Mary Roberts Rinehart

I remember reading this a few years ago and even more astounding, I vaguely remember having that great feeling of discovery you get when you come across a terrific book where, maybe, you'd only expected a moderately good one. I found THE YELLOW ROOM on one of my kitchen bookshelves tucked behind some other things and truth be known, as usually happens, I'd totally forgotten I had it at all.

I'm currently in the mood to reread this so this is a reworking of an old post from a few years ago. It's possible I may be on the verge of a Mary Roberts Rinehart reading binge. Side by side with George Bellairs. Hey, it's how we roll around here.

Mary Roberts Rinehart was chairman of the board of the 'had I but known' school of mystery writing but that doesn't make her work any the less intriguing. I love her stuff. Though, admittedly, she is an acquired taste.

Rinehart's heroines are of their time, the early 50's, late 40's and they can, occasionally, be a little hard to take, but even so I still enter eagerly into these mid-last-century misadventures. Most of her leading ladies in distress are wealthy or nearly so - in the days when being 'poor' meant having one servant as opposed to four or five, so maybe we have to work a little at empathizing with their various entanglements which often include long hidden family secrets, misguided love and murder most foul. That kind of thing.

These women were of a type and belonged to a certain 'sphere' which, back in the day, they were perfectly willing to remain in. Not that I have anything against nice, Waspy, wealthy young women looking to defy their mothers, fathers, aunts, cousins or guardians by marrying the wrong sort, Although Rinehart's heroines were also occasionally well-to-do middle-aged spinsters which was a nice touch. Truth is a lot of Rinehart's plots tend to be somewhat similar and nearly always involve a mysterious house in some way or other. But so what, murder in a nice big creepy house with unreliable electricity is, in some strange way which I cannot exactly explain, kind of comforting. Ha! Rinehart made a niche for herself and excelled at what she did.

Her best book, I think, was THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE, which I've read several times over the years - and listened to on audio. (Her most famous book, I suppose, is THE BAT which was actually nothing more or less than a re-working of The Circular Staircase.) Though the actual protagonist in these two books is an older woman of the 'take no prisoners' variety who sets things in motion by deciding to rent a large summer house out in the country.  EPISODE OF THE WANDERING KNIFE with its odd title is another favorite Rinehart. But THE YELLOW ROOM is right up there in my top five.

Mary Roberts Rinehart wasn't the only one fashioning these sorts of talesThere was a certain type of woman writer working during this time - Mignon Eberhart was another, M.M. Kaye possibly (until she broke free with the splendid historical romantic adventure THE FAR PAVILIONS), who wrote pleasant women-in-peril books which contained mysteries, some of them first class, but always under the guise of good manners, country club outings, large summer houses or estates and stalwart young men, often with sun tans. These tales weren't meant, I don't think as anything more than pleasant diversions and sometimes I feel as if I should be wearing white gloves while reading them. 

One of the more interesting coincidences among these writers is that a lot of them lived good long lives. M.M. Kaye (1908-2004) just died a few years ago and Eberhart (1899-1996) and Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876 - 1958) were also long-lived. Maybe being a mystery writer is the way to go. Look at Agatha Christie. (1890 - 1976). Though of course, of all of them, Christie was the master.

THE YELLOW ROOM concerns the 'opening' of a large summer house in Maine by people whose families have houses in Newport and New York. The heroine is Carol Spencer, a young woman of  means, though she declares herself poor when down to only a couple of reluctant servants to help with throwing back the dust covers at Crestview. (Houses with names, a tip that you're not in Kansas anymore.) But I think Carol is being 'ironic' when she says this, so I decided she was okay.

The story takes place near the end of WWII when shortages are everywhere and there are few men left in villages and towns to do any work. For instance there is only one cop left in town, the chief of police - when it comes to investigating crime. Rations exist and everyone knows someone who is in the armed services either stateside or overseas. Society is changing and Carol's mother is one of those who refuses to believe they won't be able to afford 6 or 7 servants, as in the past. Carol, at least, is pragmatic. Within the scope of her worldview, that is.

Thankfully, her charmless mother is left behind at Carol's sister's house, while Carol is sent up north (kind of like being exiled) to open Crestview, the silent house near the sea, merely on the off chance, it seems, that her brother Greg, a medal of honor winner, will be wanting to stay there for a few days before his coming marriage. (Greg is in the country temporarily to receive his medal in Washington.)

Once Carol arrives with three woebegone servants in tow - I loved the complaints about there being no porters at the train station and having to carry their own bags. They manage to get up to the house, arriving on a chilly, hostile and deserted night. Nights that always exist in these sorts of places in these sorts of books. That's why I like them.

The first thing Carol and her servants do at Crestview, is find the dead, partially burned body of a woman in a closet upstairs. And the fun begins.

From then on, it's any body's guess as to what happens next which is one of the more intriguing aspects of this story. The plot never seems to go where you think it's going to. There are more suspects than you can shake a stick at - Carol's brother, older sister and various neighbors including the father of Carol's fiance. Don Henderson, the fiance, is missing and presumed dead, his plane was shot down in the Pacific. The various relationships are developed nicely and you do get a good picture of this isolated Maine community peopled mostly with women, the elderly and one or two younger men who are there only for a short time and for particular reasons and must soon move on, back to war. That is, if murder stateside doesn't get in the way.

There is a love story thrown in for good measure, between Carol and one of the men staying nearby recuperating from a war wound. That he appears to do mysterious work for the government doesn't hurt the plot any.

I have to say I found it hard to put this book down, so I kind of read it in one fell swoop. A nice surprise, considering too that the book has been languishing on my shelves for years. (The ending is a bit convoluted, but I think that was probably the 'norm' at that time. I've read many mysteries from that era with convoluted endings which often leave me shaking my head. But it's not an intolerable thing.)

Yes, I think it might possibly be time for a Mary Roberts Rinehart marathon of sorts. We'll see how it goes.

In the meantime, don't forget to check in at Todd Mason's blog, Sweet Freedom, to see what other forgotten or overlooked books other bloggers are talking about today. Todd will be doing hosting duties while Patricia Abbott is away. 

Friday's Forgotten Books: THE GREAT MISTAKE (1940) by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Today is FFB day around these parts, the weekly meme hosted by Patti Abbott at her blog, PATTINASE Don't forget to check in at FFB Central and look over the list of bloggers posting forgotten or overlooked books today. Patti has the links.

Imagine my surprise when the other night I happened to glance at my bedside bookcase and spied two Mary Roberts Rinehart books I'd forgotten I owned. One, THE BAT, I'd read before many times, but had originally lost my copy and bought a new 'used' one which, obviously, I promptly forgot I had

Two, THE GREAT MISTAKE, which somehow I'd NEVER read but vaguely remember ordering at some point in the past. How did they wind up on a pile on my bookcase - overlooked for weeks - for me to notice them at this particular point in time? I'm thinking it's the work of book fairies. No other explanation.

Anyway, THE GREAT MISTAKE (not a great title) has the same ambiance as do most of Mary Roberts Rinehart's books: the milieu of the moneyed upper classes who could afford servants and big houses way back in the good old days of, well....servants and big houses - you know what I mean. And of course, these big old houses and their grounds are always, ALWAYS mysteriously spooky at night. In this case, there's also a large pool house and assorted other nooks and crannies to contend with.

The plot: Our unsuspecting young heroine, Patricia Abbott (not our meme host) goes to work at The Cloisters (the property of the moneyed family in this story) as a kind of social secretary/companion to elderly and likable Maud Wainwright, a widow. Mrs. Wainwright is a nice enough woman but apparently burdened with secrets which she isn't about to reveal to anyone until it's too late and maybe not even then.

Also living at the house is the heir to the Wainwright fortune, the handsome and unhappy Tony. He falls for Patricia and she for him - hesitantly. No big surprise there. But still it's nicely done by an author who is always good at handling these sorts of entanglements.

Patricia can't help but pick up on the undercurrents permeating The Cloisters, especially when Maud Wainwright begins acting strange to the point that her health is affected, but refuses to explain and continues to pretend that everything is fine.

Then out of the blue, who should turn up but Tony's heretofore unmentioned wife, Bessie. The brassy blond is, to put it mildly, a gold-digger with a heart of stone. But Tony was young and impressionable when he met her and bowled over by her flashy (and now fading) good looks, he was hooked. Bessie has refused to give him a divorce though they have been living apart for quite some time. Why should she divorce him when his mother, Maud, continues to pay all her bills?

Bessie isn't the only one to turn up out of the blue. Don Morgan, a neighbor's feckless, charming and long lost husband who'd run off years before with a young employee also turns up, claiming he's ill and doesn't have long to live and would his abandoned ex-wife and daughter please take him in and take care of him in his last days. Cough. Cough.

Before long, murder occurs. A dead body is found on the side of the road clad in silk pajamas. Secrets continue to pile upon the detritus of other secrets. Poor Patricia is dragged further into the muck of the rich. The cops begin hanging around and everyone manages to look guilty as sin. Actually, the cops look pretty silly too as they keep detaining and releasing people.

As is usual in a Mary Roberts Rinehart story there's plenty of the 'had I but known' type thing going on and occasionally, you just want to shake the heroine and say TELL ME ALREADY!! But Patricia is determined to tell the story in her own way. We must be patient or flip to the back pages.

Before long, another murder occurs and our heroine finds herself in the same untenable position all of Mary Roberts Rinehart's leading ladies usually find themselves in. It always makes me wonder why they don't just grab a gun, sit everyone down and DEMAND to know what the hell is going on. But that wouldn't be lady-like.

Therefore, we must ask ourselves these questions:

Will the Wainwright family secrets ever be revealed?

Will the cruel murderer ever be caught?

Will Bessie ever stop sneering and haranguing?

Will the cops ever get a clue?

And most importantly, will Patricia and Tony EVER live happily ever after?

Read the book and see.

This is not top notch Mary Roberts Rinehart, but really, it's quite good enough.

This review also qualifies as an entry in Bev's VINTAGE MYSTERY READING CHALLENGE 2012.

Check out all the wonderful vintage books other bloggers have been posting about. Links at Bev's blog: MY READER'S BLOCK.

Friday's Forgotten or Overlooked Books: THE ALBUM by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

If it's Friday, it's Forgotten Book day. This is the weekly meme hosted by Patti at her blog, PATTINASE Don't forget to check the link to see what other Forgotten Books other bloggers are talking about.

Even if the title is a bit misleading, THE ALBUM is certainly one of Mary Roberts Rinehart's best. I got my hands on a first edition with the original pen and ink gallery illustrations of the of characters. No dust jacket and it's a library copy, but I don't care. I loved holding and reading the thing. (I love the thick paper used in these old hardcovers.) I

THE ALBUM is one of those atmospheric mysteries full of suspense and dreadful doings among the 'genteel' upper classes in an early 20th century Midwestern town. (I'm assuming mid-west, but it could just as easily be Pennsylvania or upstate New York. The exact reality of the setting is never made clear.)

Couldn't find a really nice copy to show you, but John over at Pretty Sinister Books had a cover scan in his files. Thanks, John!

I'm currently reading three Mary Roberts Rinehart books (in a handy anthology) during meals so as not to interfere with my other reading. Hey, it's my way. She is one of the Golden Agers I've been reading and enjoying for awhile - every now and then I binge on her work. Not everything she writes is choice, but enough of it is to make the effort of looking for her books worthwhile. I'm really crazy about her novels. Turns out that most of her work is available in e-book format for pennies. Not for me, but it's good to know if you don't mind reading from screens.

My favorites of Rinehart's books, so far:

THE YELLOW ROOM
EPISODE OF THE WANDERING KNIFE
THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE
THE DOOR
THE ALBUM
THE AFTER HOUSE
THE WALL
THE WINDOW AT THE WHITE CAT
THE MAN IN LOWER TEN
THE BAT

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We had lived together so long, the five families in Crescent Place, that it never occurred to any of us that in our own way we were rather unique. Certainly the older people among us did not realize it; and I myself was rather shocked when Helen Wellington, after she married Jim and came there to live, observed that we all looked as though we walked out of an album of the nineties..

"Including that iron clamp the photographers used to use to hold the head steady," she said. "You're a stiff-necked lot, if ever I saw any."

I dare say she was right. Not long ago I was looking over the old red plush album which played such an important part in solving the crimes of which I am about to tell...

...Just how unique we were, however, none of us, including Helen Wellington herself, probably realized until after our first murder. Then, what with police and newspaper men digging about our intermingled roots, it began to dawn on me that we were indeed a strange and perhaps not very healthy human garden.

The story of the society enclave known as The Crescent is revealed by the book's first person narrator, 28 year old Louisa Hall. She is a dutiful only daughter who has given up dreams of marriage to live in a kind of  psychological servitude to her steel-willed mother, a widow still in complete mourning twenty years after the death of her husband. The Crescent is an exclusive housing development. Five large homes with manicured lawns, tall trees and privacy hedges located on an isolated semi-circular dirt road.

As I said, a genteel sort of place. Until bed-ridden Mrs. Lancaster is hacked to death with an axe.

Several more murders follow and it's clear almost from the beginning that the killer must belong to one of the five families that live in The Crescent.

A dark, moody, murderous tale with an ending that makes for a grim surprise.

Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge: Two Mini-Reviews

I'm doing two shorter reviews today while listening to the Yankee game - Major League baseball begins officially today. I'm not a Yankee fan but I so enjoy listening to them lose - the possibility of them losing, anyway. Ha! I also enjoy listening to Yankee announcers John Stirling and Susan Waldman.

The Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge is hosted by Bev at MY READER'S BLOCK. Check out who else is participating and read their reviews.

TO LOVE AND BE WISE by Josephine Tey (1950)

Many thanks go to Les over at CLASSIC MYSTERIES for recommending this title. It was one I'd never heard of before even though I am a fan of Tey and had read most of her books. I have to say that this is one of the more unusual mysteries I've ever read. I should have expected no less from the pen of Josephine Tey, a writer known for her inventive story-telling and unique point of view.

Again, Scotland Yard's Inspector Grant is called in to decipher a most troubling conundrum: the disappearance, while camping out overnight in the English countryside, of the enigmatic, young photographer Leslie Searle.

Is it murder? Is it kidnapping? Is it suicide? And where is the body, by the way?

The incredibly good-looking Searle - for reasons of his own - had managed to ingratiate himself into the family of author Lavinia Fitch, becoming a thorn in the side of famous (and oh-so-self-important) radio personality Walter Whitmore and intriguing the heck out of Walter's fiancee, Liz Garrowby. Garrowby is a shy, soft-spoken woman Whitmore has taken for granted never having had a perceived rival before.

Grant had been responsible, in a way, for introducing Searle into Fitch's family circle, so he felt an added interest in solving Searle's mysterious disappearance while the photographer was on a walking tour with Whitmore - the two planning on doing a book together.

TO LOVE AND BE WISE is about mistaken assumptions, gender expectations and the terrible weight of suspicion on the lives of the innocent. It has a heck of a surprise ending that I can practically guarantee you will not see coming.

THE DOOR (1921) by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

Okay, this book has an ending that makes you initially say, "Oh no, she didn't." And then you have to shake your head in admiration for the audacity of Mary Roberts Rinehart.

Again as with most of Rinehart's books, we have murderous doings among the well-to-do in large houses staffed with many servants. Here we have several nasty murders by as cold-blooded a killer as you're likely to meet in any of Rinehart's books. The plot is one of Rinehart's more convoluted ones - you have to stop and catch your breath while you read the denouement just to keep track of who did what to whom.

I don't know how Rinehart did this sort of thing. She must have kept meticulous notes and outlined everything to within an inch of its life. But the story doesn't show all this frantic work behind the scenes. It just moves organically, one unlikely occurrence after another. As I've said before and will probably say again while working my way through Rinehart's books, I simply could not put this book down. I stayed up last night reading until the very last word. (And only figured out who the murderer was during the last few pages. And even then, I said, nah, can't be.)

When current nurse in residence and old family retainer Sarah Gittings goes missing one night, the family of wealthy spinster Elizabeth Bell is thrown into turmoil by as complex a web of secrets, lies and misdirection as you will ever try to decipher. When after the first murder, the canny Inspector Harrison is introduced, it's hard to believe that several more murders and a kidnapping will occur. But even with cops crawling all over the place, this murderer remains undaunted.

THE DOOR is a prime example of the 'had I but known' school of writing of which Rinehart was queen. There is plenty of 'if only she'd said' or 'if only he'd said' going on. But never enough to annoy, only just enough to make you wonder what on earth is meant. I do like the first person viewpoint of Elizabeth Bell, she is a sensible, no-nonsense sort not above taking the law into her own hands.

As the mystery deepens and an arrest is made, a family member convicted and sentenced, Inspector Harrison is not totally convinced they have the right man. Is it possible that a cold-blooded killer has committed the perfect crime?

The vast majority of crimes, I believe, are never solved by any single method of any single individual. Complex crimes, I mean, without distinct clues and obvious motives.

Certainly in the case of Sarah Gittings, and in those which followed it, the final solution was a combination of luck and - curiously enough - the temporary physical disability of one individual.

And I am filled with shuddering horror when I think where we all might be but for this last.

Friday's Forgotten Books: Episode of the Wandering Knife (1943) by Mary Roberts Rinehart

This is my entry in the Friday's Forgotten Mysteries meme usually hosted by Patti Abbott at her blog, PATTINASE. Doing the hosting duties this week is Todd Mason at his blog, SWEET FREEDOM while Patti takes a well-deserved break. She'll be back at her post next week.

EPISODE OF THE WANDERING KNIFE is a relatively short novel - just 128 pages in my current library edition. I zipped right through it, couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I've read several Rinehart books lately (I'm sort of on a reading binge with her) and this, surprisingly, has turned out to be one of her best. I'd never heard of it before so I came to it with a blank slate. Except that I knew I was going to get a 'murder with manners' tale probably taking place among the well to do. And sure enough I did. But what a tale!

EPISODE OF THE WANDERING KNIFE is full of suspense and a terrific 'what happens next' rhythm which I loved. Rinehart is so good at this kind of pacing. I wish more mystery writers today had this knack, by the way.

Since we only have 128 pages, things have to happen at a relatively fast clip and they do. First we have a big party (the mayor in attendance) thrown at the mansion of Mrs. Shephard, a society type with high society attitude. Within a couple of pages, the party is over and a murder has occurred in the house next door where her son lives. Larry Shephard staggers in with the news that his wife, Isabel (who had not attended the party) has been stabbed to death.

Mrs. Shephard runs right over to see what's what and the cops are called. The cops arrive quickly enough but the murder weapon, the knife in the title, has disappeared. The heroine of the piece, Judy Shephard is also in attendance, keeping an eye on her mom who is prone to volatile behavior. We're also introduced to Anthony King who first appears to be a member of the police but then evolves into some sort of mysterious agent eager to find the murderer while driving Judy nuts with his exasperating behavior. We know, right off the bat, that despite his odd behavior (and possibly because), Tony King is the romantic lead. Rinehart usually has one up her sleeve.

To protect her son Larry (the obvious suspect) from being arrested for the murder of his wife, Mrs. Shephard has spirited the knife from the crime scene under the noses of the cops. She goes next door and hides the knife in her toilet tank. As good a place as any I suppose. Then she collapses, prostrated on her bed - though she is not the collapsing type - assuming the cops won't cross her bedroom's threshold if she is lying in bed in shock. Ah, mother love.

There aren't many servants left in the house since the story takes place during WWII, when most able-bodied men and women were needed for fighting or war work of some sort. But Mrs. Shephard does have a couple of servants in residence as well as a secretary, the hard working Alma, driven to distraction by the comings and goings between the two houses, the intrusion of the police and the increasing hysteria of her employer. Judy Shephard herself has caught the hysteria bug once she learns that her mother has absconded with vital evidence from the crime scene. But when the knife first disappears then keeps reappearing, no one can blame her if she acts a bit on edge. Especially when Don Sutton, a man Judy has had a crush on for years begins acting suspiciously. What a mess.

Long story short: Within the next day or so, a cop who was on duty the night of the party and the murder, is found dead. Then a woman who'd shown up at the mansion wanting to speak to the Shephards is killed. Meanwhile, the knife keeps showing up, kind of like a corpse that won't go away. Three people are dead and nobody but the killer knows why. Then the story of a baby born inconveniently years ago is revealed.

This is one fine Rinehart novel. A terrific way to spend a few hours when you're in the mood for a murderous tale which will keep you guessing until the very end. It's interesting that in such a short period of time, Rinehart still manages to make the characters and scene so vivid and suspenseful. What happens next has rarely been more fun.