The Circular Staircase (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)

Mary Roberts Rinehart

• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781411428621
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Crime & Mystery Literature
• Index: Literature

Mary Robert Rinehart unravels a story of a summerhouse rental gone dreadfully wrong in the popular 1908 thriller The Circular Staircase. With page-turning suspense, the tart-tongued Rachel Innes narrates the ghostly noises, suspicious deaths, troubling disappearances, mysterious origins, midnight prowlers, and stolen fortunes in this best-selling mystery.

When The Circular Staircase appeared, Rinehart's humorous, modern take on the gothic was praised as a new style of mystery writing. Today, it is prominently included in lists of milestones in detective fiction. Together with Avery Hopwood, Rinehart recast part of the novel's plot for their smash-hit 1920 Broadway play The Bat, which was immortalized on the silver screen and influenced the genesis of comic-strip hero Batman.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Introduction
• CHAPTER ONE - I TAKE A COUNTRY HOUSE
• CHAPTER TWO - A LINK CUFF-BUTTON
• CHAPTER THREE - MR. JOHN BAILEY APPEARS
• CHAPTER FOUR - WHERE IS HALSEY?
• CHAPTER FIVE - GERTRUDE’S ENGAGEMENT
• CHAPTER SIX - IN THE EAST CORRIDOR
• CHAPTER SEVEN - A SPRAINED ANKLE
• CHAPTER EIGHT - THE OTHER HALF OF THE LINK
• CHAPTER NINE - JUST LIKE A GIRL
• CHAPTER TEN - THE TRADERS’ BANK
• CHAPTER ELEVEN - HALSEY MAKES A CAPTURE
• CHAPTER TWELVE - ONE MYSTERY FOR ANOTHER
• CHAPTER THIRTEEN - LOUISE
• CHAPTER FOURTEEN - AN EGGNOG AND A TELEGRAM
• CHAPTER FIFTEEN - LIDDY GIVES THE ALARM
• CHAPTER SIXTEEN - IN THE EARLY MORNING
• CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - A HINT OF SCANDAL
• CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - A HOLE IN THE WALL
• CHAPTER NINETEEN - CONCERNING THOMAS
• CHAPTER TWENTY - DOCTOR WALKER’S WARNING
• CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - FOURTEEN ELM STREET
• CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - A LADDER OUT OF PLACE
• CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - WHILE THE STABLES BURNED
• CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - FLINDERS
• CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - A VISIT FROM LOUISE
• CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - HALSEY’S DISAPPEARANCE
• CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - WHO IS NINA CARRINGTON?
• CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT - A TRAMP AND THE TOOTHACHE
• CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE - A SCRAP OF PAPER
• CHAPTER THIRTY - WHEN CHURCHYARDS YAWN
• CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE - BETWEEN TWO FIREPLACES
• CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO - ANNE WATSON’S STORY
• CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE - AT THE FOOT OF THE STAIRS
• CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR - THE ODDS AND ENDS
• ENDNOTES
• SUGGESTED READING