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Rinehart, Mary Roberts, 1876-1958We have 23 books for this author.
 Mary Roberts Rinehart (August 12, 1876-September 22, 1958) was a prolific author often called the American Agatha Christie. She is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it", although she did not actually use the phrase herself. BiographyShe was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, which has been a part of the city of Pittsburgh since 1907. Her father was a frustrated inventor, and throughout her childhood, the family often had financial problems. She was left-handed at a time when that was considered inappropriate, and she was trained to use her right hand instead. She attended public schools and graduated at the age of sixteen, then enrolling at the Pittsburgh Training School for Nurses at Homeopathic Hospital, where graduated in 1896. She described the experience as "all the tragedy of the world under one roof." After graduation she married Stanley Marshall Rinehart, a physician whom she met there. They had three sons: Stanley Jr., Frederick, and Alan. During the stock market crash of 1903 the couple lost their savings, and this spurred Rinehart's efforts at writing as way to earn income. She was 27 that year, and she produced 45 short stories. In 1907 she wrote The Circular Staircase, the novel that launched her to national fame. According to her obituary in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that book alone sold a million and a quarter copies. Her regular contributions to the Saturday Evening Post were immensely popular and helped the magazine mold American middle-class taste and manners. Rinehart’s commercial success sometimes conflicted with her domestic roles of wife and mother. Yet she often pursued adventure, including a job as the first woman war correspondent at the Belgian front during World War I. In the early 1920s the family moved to Washington, DC when Dr. Rinehart was appointed to a post in the Veterans Administration. He died in 1932, but she continued to live there until 1935, when she moved to New York City. There she helped her sons found the publishing house Farrar & Rinehart, serving as its director. She also maintained a vacation home in Bar Harbor, Maine, where she was involved in a real-life drama in 1947. Her Filipino chef, who had worked for her for 25 years, fired a gun at her and then attempted to slash her with knives, until other servants rescued her. The chef committed suicide in his cell the next day. Rinehart suffered breast cancer, which lead to a radical mastectomy; she eventually went public with her story at a time when such matters were not openly discussed. The interview "I Had Cancer" was published in a 1947 issue of the Ladies' Home Journal and in it Rinehart encouraged women to have breast examinations. She died at age 82 in her New York City home. WritingRinehart wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues and special articles. Many of her books and plays, such as The Bat (1920) were adapted for movies, such as The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). While many of her books were best-sellers, critics were most appreciative of her murder mysteries. The phrase "The butler did it", which has become a cliché, came from Rinehart's novel The Door, in which the butler actually did do it, although that exact phrase does not actually appear in the work. [1] Tim Kelly adapted Rinehart's play into a musical "The Butler Did It, Singing." This play includes five lead female roles and five lead male roles. BibliographyNovels and plays
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This biographical information was gathered from the Mary_Roberts_Rinehart page, courtesy of the Wikipedia project. BooksThe After HouseThe Amazing Interlude Bab: a Sub-Deb The Bat The Breaking Point The Case of Jennie Brice The Circular Staircase The Confession Dangerous Days K Kings, Queens and Pawns An American Woman at the Front Long Live the King! Love Stories The Man in Lower Ten More Tish A Poor Wise Man Sight Unseen The Street of Seven Stars Tenting To-night A Chronicle of Sport and Adventure in Glacier Park and the Cascade Mountains Tish The Truce of God When a Man Marries Where There's a Will |
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