Rating: 3.5* of fiveThe Book Report: Poor Carol Spencer. She has a tiresome semi-invalid mama, a married older sister in love with her own comfort, a war hero brother who, despite being 10 years her elder acts like a schoolboy, and a dead body. Of her brother's previous unknown trollop. Oh, also wife. Plus she's a mother. (Not Carol, the dead trollop/wife.)Who killed the trollop...errr, lady? Why? And importantly, why in the Spencer family summer home when no Spencers were there? Why did the killer then go on to kill the Spencers' housekeeper while that worthy was in the hospital with a broken leg? (And my haven't things changed since 1945 when this book was published...imagine being admitted to a hospital for a broken leg now, unless it required orthopedic surgery to reconstruct!)Was it the brother, who understandably did not wish to remain married to a trollop since he's from the summer-home class and, not that much is made of this, engaged to a bombshell of a rich girl? Was it the sister, selfish chilly nasty piece of work that she is? Was it one of the elderly neighbors, for reasons unknown but probably having to do with their mysteriously absent grandson and sole living descendant? Or was it Carol's own missing, presumed dead, fiancé, the boy from the little house down the hill from her big, fancy one?My Review: Very much a product of its time, this story has aged less well than some of Rinehart's earlier ones because the mere existence of a murder and the presence of a sleuth are considered to be enough to make the story work. The major, gaping holes (characters appear then vanish never to be heard of again, gods come out of more boxes than UPS ever saw, the sleuth learns things that we don't which is a major cheat) weren't really a big issue in mysteries of the day. They were part and parcel of Dame Agatha's bag of tricks, too.The local cop is fat and shrewd, but not imaginative enough to outmatch the sleuth, and his deputy is an idiot who sleeps a lot. The local spinster busybody has a horse-face and a crush on the Spencer brother, so she elects to lie about something she saw. The Irish cook starts out with two maids, who suddenly vanish from mention, but still takes trays to Miss Carol and brings her endless cups of coffee. That woman ain't no cook, since the stove is an old coal range and speaking from experience, you turn your back on the fire in one of those babies and you ain't cookin' you's burnin'. But I reserve my main snort of disgust for the romantic subplot that Rinehart, God bless her cotton socks, felt was crucial to a successful story. This has to be the most inept romance I've ever seen in all my days. The sleuth, a war hero recovering from his wounds sustained in about four battles if Rinehart's to be believed, is Major Dane, a well-born member of the pre-war FBI and now some sort of unspecified spook for the war effort. Carol sees him as trying to frame her brother one minute, trying to frame her sister the next, and then swoons into his arms with a "daaarrrling!" and a kiss. Dane, for his part, seems annoyed by her privileged cluelessness...yet he's supposed to be the grandson of a Senator and a scion himself. Which is it?So why read this book, since there are so many flaws in it? Back in 1945, a series character wasn't strictly speaking necessary for a writer to get a mystery published, and Rinehart was America's Dame Agatha, so no hook there since this book has no repeat characters. I don't make any kind of a case for you to seek it out. But if one swims your way for some reason, and there's an afternoon you'd like to wile away with a complete read, this will not hurt you in the least. Won't fascinate you, and no one anywhere will make a case (unless I'm completely wrong about the subject) that the characters will haunt your dreams. Heck, they're already fuzzing out of my mental TV screen. But there is pleasure to be had in just relaxing with a perfectly okay book. No demands, no strings, won't change your life, just...nice.Literary Afternoon Delight.
Carol Spencer has just arrived at the family’s summer estate with two servants in tow. They are to open the house for the arrival of Carol’s brother Greg, a war hero who is on leave to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. Of course rationing means that gasoline, sugar, electricity and phones are all in short supply, but their mother insists Greg would want to spend time at the Maine retreat. But before they can unpack they make a gristly discovery – the charred corpse of a young woman is found in the linen closet. I’d never heard of this author before, but came across this novel and thought I’d give it a try. This really started off with a bang. I was engaged and interested in the murder and found most of the characters intriguing. But about half-way through I began to feel that Rinehart had made this unnecessarily complicated. There are so many suspects, so many secrets, so many crimes committed that it stretches credulity too far. The final explanation is far-fetched and unrealistic.
What do You think about The Yellow Room (1996)?
The Circular Staircase was the first of Ms. Rinehart's books that I read and I liked it enough to run out and pick up a second. I'm so glad I happened on this one next! I finished it in one evening, hair standing on end, nails bitten clean off and with every light in my bedroom on! I ordered it online the next day. I am such a sucker for a good clean suspenseful murder mystery. I've just discovered Ms. Rinehart's books (mentioned in Amory Blaine's reading list)and though no one will ever write murder mysteries and detective fiction like Agatha Christie did, I am now a Mary Roberts Rinehart devotee!She published stories, novels and plays from 1906 until the 1950's and is credited with the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing. I love the suspense of the novels and the love stories that are interwoven. The love stories are completely predictable, of course, but I'm glad they are - that way you can enjoy watching the people fall in love without it detracting from the mystery.
—Rivka
The Yellow Room was another fun, quick read by Rinehart. The story begins with Carol Spencer going to her family's summer home to get it ready for the family when she finds a body in the linen closet. No one knows who this mystery woman is or why anyone would want to do her harm. The Yellow Room was full of many twists and turns making it hard to guess who the murderer really was. There were a lot of colorful characters, but the one that interested me the most was Dane. Dane is a wounded officer who finds himself interested in the murder mystery while he is trying to get the strength in his leg back. I have really come to enjoy Rinehart's writing style and prose, and I won't mind reading more of her works. The overall mystery was pretty good, and I would recommend giving her books a try if you like an old fashioned who done it.
—Susan
An extremely convoluted plot. Everybody spends the entire book lying (usually by omission, occasionally by commission) which makes it difficult to ascertain the truth (and, thus, the plot).Writing wasn't bad, it's fairly interesting in its descriptions, but the characters are SO incredibly annoying! And shallow. More like caricatures than characters: the bossy, domineering, PITA mother with the 'bad heart'; the 'golden girl' sister so beautiful she can marry a gazillionaire - and who is as vapid/shallow/selfish as any character you've read; the good-looking man-about-town brother with the drinking problem; the mysterious stranger who rescues our heroine.It's an okay book if you're on vacation somewhere...stuck inside from a monsoon...with no access to movies, a gym, internet, music, or anything else...it'll do 'til the rain stops.
—pearl_seeker
