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The Yellow Room
Upon reopening her summer home in Maine, twenty-four-year-old Carol Spencer finds a charred corpse in a linen closet, and when Carol becomes the police's prime suspect, she attempts to clear her name by uncovering the real murderer. Reprint.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1945
129 people are currently reading
966 people want to read
About the author
Mary Roberts Rinehart
532 books416 followersMysteries of the well-known American writer Mary Roberts Rinehart include
The Circular Staircase
(1908) and
The Door
(1930).
People often called this prolific author the American version of Agatha Christie. She is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it," though the exact phrase doesn't appear in her works, and she invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing.
Rinehart wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues, and special articles. Many of her books and plays were adapted for movies, such as The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). Critics most appreciated her murder mysteries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ro...
People often called this prolific author the American version of Agatha Christie. She is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it," though the exact phrase doesn't appear in her works, and she invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing.
Rinehart wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues, and special articles. Many of her books and plays were adapted for movies, such as The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). Critics most appreciated her murder mysteries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ro...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 142 reviews
July 11, 2021
The Yellow Room, originally published in 1945, is one of Mary Roberts Rinehart’s best books, in my opinion. It is an old-fashioned, very entertaining example of the more traditional mystery genre. There is a pretty young girl, a murder, intrigue involving the young woman's family, and, of course, a dashing war hero in love with the heroine, and only too willing to use every means at his disposal to help her. Rinehart creates a fun and exciting atmosphere for mystery lovers to enjoy, as well as a pretty good brain teaser.
Young Carol Spencer is a likable heroine trying to recover from the loss of her fiancee in the South Pacific. She longs to keep busy and wants to make herself useful in the war effort. She has been forced to care for her mother, however, because her selfish sister Elinor is too busy with her society functions to help. When Carol leaves New York and travels to Maine, to open up their home there, she discovers many unsettling mysteries. Lucy, the maid, is missing, and it is soon discovered that she is in the hospital with an injured leg. Someone unknown had chased her in the night until she fell down the stairs. It could be that certain someone who has been hiding in the yellow room, even though no one was living in the Spencer's Maine home. Worse, there is a very dead young woman in the closet. When it is discovered that woman arrived asking about Carol, our heroine becomes a suspect in the eyes of the local police.
Dane is a war veteran whose past is a bit of a mystery. His meddling in the case is unappreciated by the local police. Carol hasn't a clue who to turn to, who to trust. When her brother arrives on the scene, rather than shedding light on the matter, the mystery becomes even murkier. Carol's snotty sister's car was seen the night of the murder, even though she was supposedly in New York. Was Carol's brother involved somehow? Who has been stealing her mother's fine china from the house? What was the dead girl's relationship to her brother and sister?
Dane uses every man and instinct at his disposal to root out the real killer, and get to the bottom of things. Shots in the night and the mysterious actions of someone unknown, yet moving easily among her Maine neighbors, can only spell great danger for Carol.
This mystery is very old-fashioned, and likewise so is the charming romance. The product of a more romantic era, The Yellow Room is very much a mystery where you can sense changes the war brought about in young men. The mores of a bygone era are at the forefront in this enjoyable and atmospheric mystery from one of the greats in the genre. For those who like their mysteries old-fashioned, and a bit on the romantic side, The Yellow Room is a lot of fun.
Young Carol Spencer is a likable heroine trying to recover from the loss of her fiancee in the South Pacific. She longs to keep busy and wants to make herself useful in the war effort. She has been forced to care for her mother, however, because her selfish sister Elinor is too busy with her society functions to help. When Carol leaves New York and travels to Maine, to open up their home there, she discovers many unsettling mysteries. Lucy, the maid, is missing, and it is soon discovered that she is in the hospital with an injured leg. Someone unknown had chased her in the night until she fell down the stairs. It could be that certain someone who has been hiding in the yellow room, even though no one was living in the Spencer's Maine home. Worse, there is a very dead young woman in the closet. When it is discovered that woman arrived asking about Carol, our heroine becomes a suspect in the eyes of the local police.
Dane is a war veteran whose past is a bit of a mystery. His meddling in the case is unappreciated by the local police. Carol hasn't a clue who to turn to, who to trust. When her brother arrives on the scene, rather than shedding light on the matter, the mystery becomes even murkier. Carol's snotty sister's car was seen the night of the murder, even though she was supposedly in New York. Was Carol's brother involved somehow? Who has been stealing her mother's fine china from the house? What was the dead girl's relationship to her brother and sister?
Dane uses every man and instinct at his disposal to root out the real killer, and get to the bottom of things. Shots in the night and the mysterious actions of someone unknown, yet moving easily among her Maine neighbors, can only spell great danger for Carol.
This mystery is very old-fashioned, and likewise so is the charming romance. The product of a more romantic era, The Yellow Room is very much a mystery where you can sense changes the war brought about in young men. The mores of a bygone era are at the forefront in this enjoyable and atmospheric mystery from one of the greats in the genre. For those who like their mysteries old-fashioned, and a bit on the romantic side, The Yellow Room is a lot of fun.
February 6, 2012
Rating: 3.5* of five
The 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.
The 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.
December 1, 2015
This one is truly vintage. The location is in Maine during the latter years of WWII.
Nearly every man in the story is soldier, air squadron pilot, or some aspect of the service. Few phones, few surpluses of anything but trouble and suspense. Lots going on in this house, and especially re the Yellow Room. And don't go in the linen closet!
At one of the most dramatic moments of life and death action, I actually laughed out loud. Because our hero, Dane, was said to swear and use words that Carol had never heard, and that were "only used in the Army". (And none of those words ever appeared in the print, either.)
Times have certainly changed. This "bad" girl was dead from the start. Now her actions would probably have made her the heroine.
Rinehart always keeps you guessing. But she also is super heavy on repetitive conversations. It was nice to revisit the times when the unmarried people actually all sleep alone.
Nearly every man in the story is soldier, air squadron pilot, or some aspect of the service. Few phones, few surpluses of anything but trouble and suspense. Lots going on in this house, and especially re the Yellow Room. And don't go in the linen closet!
At one of the most dramatic moments of life and death action, I actually laughed out loud. Because our hero, Dane, was said to swear and use words that Carol had never heard, and that were "only used in the Army". (And none of those words ever appeared in the print, either.)
Times have certainly changed. This "bad" girl was dead from the start. Now her actions would probably have made her the heroine.
Rinehart always keeps you guessing. But she also is super heavy on repetitive conversations. It was nice to revisit the times when the unmarried people actually all sleep alone.
November 26, 2016
Carol Spencer arrives at her family’s summer home (called Crestview) in Bayside, Maine, with a cook and two maids, only to discover a dead woman in the house’s linen closet. The victim had been bashed on the head and then lit on fire, although the fire had died out before spreading.
Carol, still grieving her dead fiancé during the final year of World War II, teams up with a convalescing soldier, Major Jerry Dane, to find out who the pretty dead blonde was and how it was that she had come to move in as a squatter at Crestview. And while it’s obvious that the victim had been living in Crestview’s Yellow Room, her clothes are all gone — except for the silver fox fur coat and red negligée she was wearing — as well as her purse and any identification or ration book.
Mary Roberts Rinehart’s whodunit remains as suspenseful and clever as it was when it was first published 70 years ago in 1945; as cliché as it sounds, I couldn’t put it down, finishing it in a day. I never foresaw the solution. Reading it as part of Kindle Unlimited was just the icing on a delicious cake.
Carol, still grieving her dead fiancé during the final year of World War II, teams up with a convalescing soldier, Major Jerry Dane, to find out who the pretty dead blonde was and how it was that she had come to move in as a squatter at Crestview. And while it’s obvious that the victim had been living in Crestview’s Yellow Room, her clothes are all gone — except for the silver fox fur coat and red negligée she was wearing — as well as her purse and any identification or ration book.
Mary Roberts Rinehart’s whodunit remains as suspenseful and clever as it was when it was first published 70 years ago in 1945; as cliché as it sounds, I couldn’t put it down, finishing it in a day. I never foresaw the solution. Reading it as part of Kindle Unlimited was just the icing on a delicious cake.
January 4, 2021
Let me say right off the bat, I do not think this is a bad book—it quite simply does
not
fit
ME
!!!!!. It is a whodunit crime mystery, old-fashioned in style. I like that it is old-fashioned. There are many, many characters. I was able to keep track of all of them. Figuring out who is the criminal, and how the crimes are perpetrated is the point of the tale. First you think one person. Then you think another. At the end you understand completely. The dot over the “i” is its sweet, cute , happy ending to a love thread that has been building from the start. Many adore a story such as this, but I do
NOT
!!!!!!!
I am not interested in who did what. I prefer in-depth character studies. I do not find these characters real. I have not gotten to know them personality-wise, and so they mean nothing to me. The syrupy sweet ending is not to my taste!
The story is set in a summer resort town in Maine during the Second World War. Multiple crimes occur—a dead body is found in a linen closet, fires are set, people sneak around in the dark, gun shots are heard and people are shot.
Reading this book has confirmed once again that mystery novels where the point is to solve who did what are not for me! It makes no difference to me if they are contemporary or old-fashioned. In trying to stretch my borders, I have failed.
Liza Ross narrates the audiobook. She does a fantastic job. She uses different intonations for the different characters. She switches from one to another without a hitch. She does not overdramatize. Her performance is impressive. The audio narration must be given five stars. It is possible to dislike a book but judge the audio narration to be superb!
The author’s The Amazing Interlude is not a whodunit tale. If you are like me, read that instead. If you are one who loves whodunit tales, go ahead then and read The Yellow Room. Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876 – 1958) is often referred to as the American Agatha Christie, but Rinehart’s first mystery novel was published fourteen years before Christie's first, in 1920.
*************************
*The Amazing Interlude 4 stars
*The Yellow Room 1 star
I am not interested in who did what. I prefer in-depth character studies. I do not find these characters real. I have not gotten to know them personality-wise, and so they mean nothing to me. The syrupy sweet ending is not to my taste!
The story is set in a summer resort town in Maine during the Second World War. Multiple crimes occur—a dead body is found in a linen closet, fires are set, people sneak around in the dark, gun shots are heard and people are shot.
Reading this book has confirmed once again that mystery novels where the point is to solve who did what are not for me! It makes no difference to me if they are contemporary or old-fashioned. In trying to stretch my borders, I have failed.
Liza Ross narrates the audiobook. She does a fantastic job. She uses different intonations for the different characters. She switches from one to another without a hitch. She does not overdramatize. Her performance is impressive. The audio narration must be given five stars. It is possible to dislike a book but judge the audio narration to be superb!
The author’s The Amazing Interlude is not a whodunit tale. If you are like me, read that instead. If you are one who loves whodunit tales, go ahead then and read The Yellow Room. Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876 – 1958) is often referred to as the American Agatha Christie, but Rinehart’s first mystery novel was published fourteen years before Christie's first, in 1920.
*************************
*The Amazing Interlude 4 stars
*The Yellow Room 1 star
November 22, 2020
A corpse - somewhat charred around the edges - has been discovered in the linen closet of the Spencers' fabulous Maine retreat. No one has a clue as to who she is or how she got there. Certainly not Carol Spencer, who has just arrived to open up her isolated family house for the summer.
This is the third Mary Roberts Rinehart book I've read and like the other two I liked it, but didn't love it. I'm not sure why, but at the same time I want to keep reading her books. They do fill my occasional need to read something vintage.
This was a good mystery, if rather convoluted. It was hard to figure out and I was surprised at several of the revelations. Several characters withheld vital information that would have helped solve the case much sooner. Apparently that's a Rinehart staple, and I'm not sure how much I care for it.
What could have been better were the characterizations. Some of that is due to the time period that the book was written. It definitely reads like an older book. This was written in 1945 and women characters were written differently back then, and I'm not always a fan of it. It's the same with watching old movies (although I enjoy them sometimes). The women were viewed as too fragile, and the men had to swoop in and take care of things. I like my female characters to be more involved in the mystery solving, and the main character here wasn't. She was a very passive part of the story, with the two males—a detective and an FBI agent—doing the investigating. I also wanted to feel like there was some sort of danger present for the characters involved but I never felt that way.
There is also the whole thing of forgiving the men of their "transgressions" and blaming the "trollop" instead of putting the blame equally on them both. Here we have the mentality that it was excusable for the men because they were at war and having a hard time mentally and psychologically, and the woman took advantage. And while the men involved did feel remorse and shame for their actions, I still thought that not enough responsibility was put on them for their actions by the women in their lives, and they were too easily forgiven. That did seem to be the mindset for back when this book was written though.
There was some romance in the story, but I never really got behind it as it was the insta-love type that was so popular in books of this time period. I can excuse it at times, especially when reading a Mary Stewart book, but this one was too sudden, too bland, and too unbelievable, especially when our main character was so suspicious of him the whole time, and was supposedly heart broken over losing her fiance in the war. She did a real about face on that, and it didn't make much sense to me.
I can't leave this review without mentioning this cover. I like it. I think it's pretty, but I wonder why they chose a beach scene for the cover of this book. A picture of a yellow room would have been the obvious and best choice. I know earlier editions did have more relevant covers, although I wouldn't say they were pretty.
I'm not sure when I'll get to another Rinehart book, but I will eventually. I'm still hoping I find one I like enough to give at least 4 stars to.
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader.
This is the third Mary Roberts Rinehart book I've read and like the other two I liked it, but didn't love it. I'm not sure why, but at the same time I want to keep reading her books. They do fill my occasional need to read something vintage.
This was a good mystery, if rather convoluted. It was hard to figure out and I was surprised at several of the revelations. Several characters withheld vital information that would have helped solve the case much sooner. Apparently that's a Rinehart staple, and I'm not sure how much I care for it.
What could have been better were the characterizations. Some of that is due to the time period that the book was written. It definitely reads like an older book. This was written in 1945 and women characters were written differently back then, and I'm not always a fan of it. It's the same with watching old movies (although I enjoy them sometimes). The women were viewed as too fragile, and the men had to swoop in and take care of things. I like my female characters to be more involved in the mystery solving, and the main character here wasn't. She was a very passive part of the story, with the two males—a detective and an FBI agent—doing the investigating. I also wanted to feel like there was some sort of danger present for the characters involved but I never felt that way.
There is also the whole thing of forgiving the men of their "transgressions" and blaming the "trollop" instead of putting the blame equally on them both. Here we have the mentality that it was excusable for the men because they were at war and having a hard time mentally and psychologically, and the woman took advantage. And while the men involved did feel remorse and shame for their actions, I still thought that not enough responsibility was put on them for their actions by the women in their lives, and they were too easily forgiven. That did seem to be the mindset for back when this book was written though.
There was some romance in the story, but I never really got behind it as it was the insta-love type that was so popular in books of this time period. I can excuse it at times, especially when reading a Mary Stewart book, but this one was too sudden, too bland, and too unbelievable, especially when our main character was so suspicious of him the whole time, and was supposedly heart broken over losing her fiance in the war. She did a real about face on that, and it didn't make much sense to me.
I can't leave this review without mentioning this cover. I like it. I think it's pretty, but I wonder why they chose a beach scene for the cover of this book. A picture of a yellow room would have been the obvious and best choice. I know earlier editions did have more relevant covers, although I wouldn't say they were pretty.
I'm not sure when I'll get to another Rinehart book, but I will eventually. I'm still hoping I find one I like enough to give at least 4 stars to.
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader.
January 4, 2024
A delightful whodunit and whodunit!
Mary Roberts Rinehart is an incredible writer who just manages to surprise me with every book I read of hers.
Carol, arrives at her family holiday home, Crestview in a quaint seaside town and all is not how it should be, missing staff, the telephone cut off and an odd smell! Then a housemaid discovers a body, scorched and battered and the small town suddenly feels dark and dangerous and Carol isn't sure who she can trust....
Mary Roberts Rinehart is an incredible writer who just manages to surprise me with every book I read of hers.
Carol, arrives at her family holiday home, Crestview in a quaint seaside town and all is not how it should be, missing staff, the telephone cut off and an odd smell! Then a housemaid discovers a body, scorched and battered and the small town suddenly feels dark and dangerous and Carol isn't sure who she can trust....
December 16, 2023
The Yellow Room is an entertaining time capsule. It was written and published during the last years of World War II, and key elements of the tale center on it: family members serving in the thick of battle, a scarcity of everyday items and financial distress on the homefront. The last item was most notable to me as the majority of Mary Roberts Rinehart's books - including this one - are set among upper class families. This later work touches on the gradual erosion of that class (with a few asides from main character Jerry Dane looking down on the upper crust families; I found that to be interesting).
The story: young Carol Spencer is sent to Maine to open Crestview, the Spencer family vacation home. It is a large and unique building, built around a central patio that houses a pool. Carol and three servants arrive to find more than dust-covers on the furniture: there is a corpse in a linen closet! That discovery sets off a cascade of dangerous incidents involving Carol's two siblings and the residents of three neighboring vacation homes. Recuperating in one of them is former FBI agent (now serviceman) Jerry Dane, who decides to supplement his recovery with some sleuthing...and is met with wariness from the Spencers and hostility from the local sheriff.
The story is another dip into the successful formula Rinehart put forth in her books: one shocking event sets off a chain of more shocking events. The reader is baffled at how can they could possibly be connected, but they are. To Rinehart's credit the revelations at the end make sense because they are all character based; she does a fine job at crafting characters with distinct personalities and weaving them into her mystery. It is admittedly complicated, but all quite plausible and great fun. That's why her books remain in print nearly one hundred years later.
The story: young Carol Spencer is sent to Maine to open Crestview, the Spencer family vacation home. It is a large and unique building, built around a central patio that houses a pool. Carol and three servants arrive to find more than dust-covers on the furniture: there is a corpse in a linen closet! That discovery sets off a cascade of dangerous incidents involving Carol's two siblings and the residents of three neighboring vacation homes. Recuperating in one of them is former FBI agent (now serviceman) Jerry Dane, who decides to supplement his recovery with some sleuthing...and is met with wariness from the Spencers and hostility from the local sheriff.
The story is another dip into the successful formula Rinehart put forth in her books: one shocking event sets off a chain of more shocking events. The reader is baffled at how can they could possibly be connected, but they are. To Rinehart's credit the revelations at the end make sense because they are all character based; she does a fine job at crafting characters with distinct personalities and weaving them into her mystery. It is admittedly complicated, but all quite plausible and great fun. That's why her books remain in print nearly one hundred years later.
November 6, 2018
A solid 3.5 stars rounded up. Lots of suspects which made it interesting for me. I have another of hers that I’m looking forward to reading.
August 17, 2021
Another great masterpiece was written by one of the masters of mystery books.
4* The Circular Staircase
4* The Amazing Interlude
4* The Door
4* The Wall
4* The Yellow Room
TR The Bat
TR When a Man Marries
TR The Man in Lower Ten
TR Through Glacier Park In 1915
TR The Breaking Point
TR The Case of Jennie Brice
4* The Circular Staircase
4* The Amazing Interlude
4* The Door
4* The Wall
4* The Yellow Room
TR The Bat
TR When a Man Marries
TR The Man in Lower Ten
TR Through Glacier Park In 1915
TR The Breaking Point
TR The Case of Jennie Brice
August 21, 2012
So this makes my eighth Mary Roberts Rinehart review for the year, with two more books finished and waiting their turn. Add in the eight from last year, and this will be the sixteenth review. So that makes eighteen of her books I've read in a very short period of time. This is the first time I've stopped to think about how many of her books I've read. I guess the obvious point is that I really like her writing.
Nothing changes with The Yellow Room, actually I think my fondness for her has only grown by leaps and bounds with this one. This was one of the most enjoyable books of hers yet, and considering how much fun I've been having, that says something. Everything was perfect; from the setting, to the characters, to the crime itself. Carol is the quintessential Rinehart heroine. She is wealthy, pretty, but above all else, intelligent. She uses her brains, and in this case her own investigative skills, to her advantage. Now that's not to say that she does all the work on her own, far from it. Like most of Rinehart's heroines, Carol is more of an asset for the male protagonist, the love interest if you will. This time around she gets out and helps in the field, but it's the male hero that saves the day. I don't want to sell Carol, or her contemporaries short, though. It's often their eyes and memories that make all the difference. Without her, the male hero wouldn't have a chance of solving the case.
But what I love the most about this book, and every Rinehart book I've ever read, is the setting. She is able to create a world, that no matter how big, always feels small and claustrophobic. It's the one skill of hers that I admire more than any other. For me, the setting is almost more important than anything else. If the story being told doesn't fit within the world the author created, I can never buy into. If I can't imagine myself there, in the locale, I can't enjoy what I'm reading. If the atmosphere, especially in a mystery, surrounding the characters doesn't raise goosebumps on my arm, I feel let down. Luckily, Rinehart has not yet failed to do just that.
Nothing changes with The Yellow Room, actually I think my fondness for her has only grown by leaps and bounds with this one. This was one of the most enjoyable books of hers yet, and considering how much fun I've been having, that says something. Everything was perfect; from the setting, to the characters, to the crime itself. Carol is the quintessential Rinehart heroine. She is wealthy, pretty, but above all else, intelligent. She uses her brains, and in this case her own investigative skills, to her advantage. Now that's not to say that she does all the work on her own, far from it. Like most of Rinehart's heroines, Carol is more of an asset for the male protagonist, the love interest if you will. This time around she gets out and helps in the field, but it's the male hero that saves the day. I don't want to sell Carol, or her contemporaries short, though. It's often their eyes and memories that make all the difference. Without her, the male hero wouldn't have a chance of solving the case.
But what I love the most about this book, and every Rinehart book I've ever read, is the setting. She is able to create a world, that no matter how big, always feels small and claustrophobic. It's the one skill of hers that I admire more than any other. For me, the setting is almost more important than anything else. If the story being told doesn't fit within the world the author created, I can never buy into. If I can't imagine myself there, in the locale, I can't enjoy what I'm reading. If the atmosphere, especially in a mystery, surrounding the characters doesn't raise goosebumps on my arm, I feel let down. Luckily, Rinehart has not yet failed to do just that.
February 17, 2010
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.
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.
September 6, 2024
It might seem as though Rinehart was just going through the motions. She has all the ingredients: a bit of Gothic horror, a young unknown murdered woman, an empty mansion (she loved those!), a couple of good looking war heroes, a pretty heroine out of her depth, several hysterical women, a clumsy and awkward romance. But it doesn't quite hold together (the soufflé fell) and the resolution is confusing and complicated with everyone either confessing to or being accused of one or more murders or attempted murders. Not her best, but The Yellow Room was late in her career, one of her last three novels, so it's unfair to be too hard; she'd been publishing since 1906. Interesting for the excellent reportage on rationing and the effects of the war on the home front. She has a wealthy individual refer to herself as "the new poor," meaning the rich who didn't want to alter their standard of living because of taxes. After all, there was only a war on at the time. [3★]
January 4, 2025
2020 Review
The Yellow Room by Mary Roberts Rinehart is one of those books I reread every few years. The characters are interesting enough, but mostly I like the complex mystery plot. No matter how many times I read this book, I still forget who did what—thus it’s always fun to read again.
It’s the end of WW2, and Carol Spencer is traveling to Maine to open the summer house. She would rather be volunteering as a WAC or a nurse’s aide, but she is the only child left to prop up her aging, selfish mother—a woman who refuses to accept the changes war has brought to American life. Her sister, Elinor, is a beautiful socialite married to a wealthy man—her reputation means everything to her. Her older brother Greg is a captain and an ace flyer, a handsome man with a history of drinking and enjoying the attention of women—even though he is engaged to be married. He is due to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor in Washington, then join the family at the Maine estate. When Carol reaches Crestview with three servants to help run the household, she is puzzled. Their housekeeper, Mrs. Norton, should have started the furnace and aired out the house. However, Crestview is stuffy and cold but with a burning smell in the air. When the excitable young maid Freda finds a dead body in the linen closet, Carol—and her family—are pulled into a vortex of murder and lies.
This book was written during the 1940s-50s so you have to expect the culture to be different. Carol, even though she is only 24, is described as the spinster of the family. Can you imagine? A spinster at 24. Seriously. Everyone in the novel smokes. All the time. I cringe whenever they light up, imagining their lungs slowly turning black. They also drink highballs and the women are supposed to be married, and if not, they can be nurses or teachers, unless they’re rich. Then they just lounge around at home, smoking and drinking highballs. Carol herself isn’t a compelling heroine. She seems kind of dumb, but she is brave and resourceful and doesn’t faint or whine. Elinor is fairly despicable and spoiled and Greg comes across as an amiable idiot—one of those rich frat boys who skids through college on his good looks and money and gets a cushy job in daddy’s business. The most interesting character is Major Jerry Dane, an intelligence officer on leave to recover from an injury. The local police chief (who doesn’t believe Carol when she reports the dead body) invites Dane to join them on his jaunt back to Crestview to look at a dead body he thinks is just a product of a feminine hysteria and weak-mindedness.
Dane is soon pulled into the investigation because he has the hots for Carol (who is very attractive, of course) and he’s worried that the police chief is going in completely the wrong direction with the evidence. There are a lot of weird goings-on and the crime is much more complex than Floyd, the police chief, understands. It’s interesting to see how Dane untangles all the personalities and motivations of the summer people (as they are—the wealthy summer residents of this coastal Maine town) and comes to the shocking and tragic solution.
This is an engrossing, complex mystery. The plot has held up well over time and the characters are believable and authentic (even if the social mores are outdated). Rinehart is an excellent writer and I enjoy her novels (mostly).
Older Review
I read this about once a year. Love this book. Good mystery. Rinehart was a master of the thrillers/mysteries, even in the 1920s.
The Yellow Room by Mary Roberts Rinehart is one of those books I reread every few years. The characters are interesting enough, but mostly I like the complex mystery plot. No matter how many times I read this book, I still forget who did what—thus it’s always fun to read again.
It’s the end of WW2, and Carol Spencer is traveling to Maine to open the summer house. She would rather be volunteering as a WAC or a nurse’s aide, but she is the only child left to prop up her aging, selfish mother—a woman who refuses to accept the changes war has brought to American life. Her sister, Elinor, is a beautiful socialite married to a wealthy man—her reputation means everything to her. Her older brother Greg is a captain and an ace flyer, a handsome man with a history of drinking and enjoying the attention of women—even though he is engaged to be married. He is due to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor in Washington, then join the family at the Maine estate. When Carol reaches Crestview with three servants to help run the household, she is puzzled. Their housekeeper, Mrs. Norton, should have started the furnace and aired out the house. However, Crestview is stuffy and cold but with a burning smell in the air. When the excitable young maid Freda finds a dead body in the linen closet, Carol—and her family—are pulled into a vortex of murder and lies.
This book was written during the 1940s-50s so you have to expect the culture to be different. Carol, even though she is only 24, is described as the spinster of the family. Can you imagine? A spinster at 24. Seriously. Everyone in the novel smokes. All the time. I cringe whenever they light up, imagining their lungs slowly turning black. They also drink highballs and the women are supposed to be married, and if not, they can be nurses or teachers, unless they’re rich. Then they just lounge around at home, smoking and drinking highballs. Carol herself isn’t a compelling heroine. She seems kind of dumb, but she is brave and resourceful and doesn’t faint or whine. Elinor is fairly despicable and spoiled and Greg comes across as an amiable idiot—one of those rich frat boys who skids through college on his good looks and money and gets a cushy job in daddy’s business. The most interesting character is Major Jerry Dane, an intelligence officer on leave to recover from an injury. The local police chief (who doesn’t believe Carol when she reports the dead body) invites Dane to join them on his jaunt back to Crestview to look at a dead body he thinks is just a product of a feminine hysteria and weak-mindedness.
Dane is soon pulled into the investigation because he has the hots for Carol (who is very attractive, of course) and he’s worried that the police chief is going in completely the wrong direction with the evidence. There are a lot of weird goings-on and the crime is much more complex than Floyd, the police chief, understands. It’s interesting to see how Dane untangles all the personalities and motivations of the summer people (as they are—the wealthy summer residents of this coastal Maine town) and comes to the shocking and tragic solution.
This is an engrossing, complex mystery. The plot has held up well over time and the characters are believable and authentic (even if the social mores are outdated). Rinehart is an excellent writer and I enjoy her novels (mostly).
Older Review
I read this about once a year. Love this book. Good mystery. Rinehart was a master of the thrillers/mysteries, even in the 1920s.
October 22, 2017
This book was nothing like the blurbs. The main female character eventually faded into the background and did nothing to advance the plot or to help solve the crime. How in the world the main male character fell in love with her is beyond me. Seems she spent much of the book crying in her room and being pitied by other people. The mystery itself was sooooo incredibly convoluted. Every single person in the book kept secrets under the pretense of saving their own skins, but in actuality if they had just told the truth about what they each knew, they all would have been eliminated as suspects. This is a typical representation of what is so exasperating about murder mysteries. I will probably not read anymore of Rinehart's books. She is well-regarded as a writer for reasons that don't make sense to me. I cannot tolerate authors who toy with their readers, withholding clues, and then present the murderer in the very final pages as someone who has played no active role up to that point. Utterly ridiculous plot. And the romance angle was pretty pathetic as well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 27, 2018
Fellow Agatha Christie lovers add this book to your reading list immediately. Although it is set in Maine, not England, you have a lovely cozy murder mystery with a village feel. A body is found in the linen closet of a summer home while it is being opened for the season. Like a Christie book, there are lots of local suspects to learn about and consider as the murderers. I was guessing until the very end! The story takes place during WWII in 1944. The war is mainly mentioned as it relates to the town residents - the lack of available workers and many shortages of consumer goods. For instance, half the phones had been removed from the town. Another shortage I had never thought about was the police had no film to use when the body was found! Happy reading!
August 25, 2022
It's WWII, after D-day invasion, but war still rages in both Europe and the Pacific Rim. Carol is sent to Maine to open up the Spencer family summer house, a mansion called Crestview on the Maine coast near a village named Bayside. Her invalid demanding selfish mother has insisted on opening it in spite of wartime shortages on everything, including staff, because she is sure her son Gregory will want to spend is layover there after getting his medal awarded in Washington. On arriving at Crestview a dead body is found in the linen closet. From there Rinehart takes us on a long ride through a complex multi-layered puzzle and murder mystery.
Perhaps too many layers and complexities. I really enjoy these classic Golden Age stories, especially those like this written by the grand dames of the genre, and this is without a doubt one of Rinehart's best. But as all started being revealed and pulled together in a series of reveals, it felt a bit like too many cooks, too many moving parts, or to use a contemporary term of art, too micro-managed. I did guess some bits early on but all the final reveals caught me by surprise.
Also, Carol herself after a promising strong even feisty start lapses into a passive role, succumbing to a palid romance with Dane, a dominating "don't worry your pretty head I will take care of you" mysterious male with some military intelligence job when not recuperating from an injury. I know it was typical for the times but today it irritates.
Perhaps too many layers and complexities. I really enjoy these classic Golden Age stories, especially those like this written by the grand dames of the genre, and this is without a doubt one of Rinehart's best. But as all started being revealed and pulled together in a series of reveals, it felt a bit like too many cooks, too many moving parts, or to use a contemporary term of art, too micro-managed. I did guess some bits early on but all the final reveals caught me by surprise.
Also, Carol herself after a promising strong even feisty start lapses into a passive role, succumbing to a palid romance with Dane, a dominating "don't worry your pretty head I will take care of you" mysterious male with some military intelligence job when not recuperating from an injury. I know it was typical for the times but today it irritates.
June 10, 2023
Read in 2017 and 2023.
Rating: 5 Stars!!
Review:
Per my original review, i still love this book and it still kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time.
Thank you to my Great Grandma for giving me this copy of this wonderful Mystery by Mary Roberts Rinehart.
The Characters are so fun and enjoyable to read about. Carol and The Spencer family were definately my favorites.
The Setting was beautifully described which made me feel like i was really in the book while reading especially when the scenery was described.
Overall a Good Mystery!! Can't wait to explore more by Mary in the future!!
Rating: 5 Stars!!
Review:
Per my original review, i still love this book and it still kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time.
Thank you to my Great Grandma for giving me this copy of this wonderful Mystery by Mary Roberts Rinehart.
The Characters are so fun and enjoyable to read about. Carol and The Spencer family were definately my favorites.
The Setting was beautifully described which made me feel like i was really in the book while reading especially when the scenery was described.
Overall a Good Mystery!! Can't wait to explore more by Mary in the future!!
February 27, 2012
Mary Roberts Rinehart does it again in The Yellow Room. Billed on my edition as a more Gothic, Had-I-But-Known story, it's really more of a twisty-turny mystery (and she delivers on the twisty-turny solution!). Shoot, if you read the blurb on the book I have here beside me, you'd think that some evil terror hangs out in the Yellow Room of Carol Spencer's family home in the country and that she goes in mortal fear of her elder brother.
See?:
As a child, Carol Spencer had always thought of Crestview as a place of light and laughter. But Carol was a young woman now, a lovely young woman, and a badly frightened one. The old mansion on the hill was no longer a refuge from the world. It was a prison from which even the man she loved could not rescue her...a nightmare from which she could not awaken...where every heart beat brought her closer to the strange menace of--The Yellow Room
And:
Brother and Stranger It had been years since Carol Spencer had seen her brother Greg. Time and war had separated them, but Carol still could vividly remember his flashing smile, his easy grace, in the days when he had been a kind of a god to his younger sister. Now they were together again at Crestview--and it was as if Carol were facing a stranger...a stranger whom she knew she should help but could only fear...a stranger with bitterness curling his mouth...hate in his eyes...and blood on his hands....
Can we say melodramatic and over-the-top? Just a little bit.
Seriously, there are some mysterious goings-on at Crestview but not quite on this scale. Carol and her help (a housekeeper/cook and two maids) arrive at the family home to open it in time to receive her elder brother Greg who is home on leave from service in WWII. He's come back from the Pacific theater to receive a Medal of Honor and their mother wants him to have a chance to relax in the cool country air before returning to "that awful tropical heat." When the women reach the train station, there is no taxi to meet them as expected. When they reach the house, there is no caretaker to greet them with breakfast and a warm fire as expected. The gardener/handyman has disappeared. And what exactly is that odd smell?
Before the morning is over, they discover that the handyman is in the hospital with appendicitis and the caretaker has fallen down the stairs the previous Friday and is in the hospital with a broken leg. Oh, and there's a dead body in the linen closet. That somebody tried to burn to prevent identification. By then end of the book, there is another murder and a shooting. The local chief of police goes from having the usual respect (of the period) for the uppercrust, to an all-out effort to make one of the Spencer family out as the guilty party. He finally settles for the war hero. ***Spoiler Alert*****
Because after all, the war hero was tricked into a marriage with a "little tramp" who seemed to have come East specifically to blackmail somebody. (The "little" tramp would be the body in the closet.) And said hero was planning on marrying a society lady--who probably wouldn't be too happy to hear that her hubby-to-be had gotten himself entangled.
Carol doesn't know what to think. Did Greg do it? Did her sister Elinor, who has always been devoted to Greg, do it? Or is she just covering up for him? Or maybe it's somebody else altogether. She turns to her neighbor, Major Dane, for help. He just happens to be a recovering Army Intelligence officer of some sort...and soon he's uncovering all the evidence that the local police miss.
But Rinehart has plenty of tricks up her sleeve and she uses the Major's investigation to provide all surprises. Just when you think he's collected the final clue, along comes another to make you rethink the solution. Of course, with Rinehart, there is the standard romance and there are a few loose ends that don't quite get tied up in this one (not to mention a few vital clues that are kept just a little too ambigious), but over all a fun outing--I read this one in just one day!
See?:
As a child, Carol Spencer had always thought of Crestview as a place of light and laughter. But Carol was a young woman now, a lovely young woman, and a badly frightened one. The old mansion on the hill was no longer a refuge from the world. It was a prison from which even the man she loved could not rescue her...a nightmare from which she could not awaken...where every heart beat brought her closer to the strange menace of--The Yellow Room
And:
Brother and Stranger It had been years since Carol Spencer had seen her brother Greg. Time and war had separated them, but Carol still could vividly remember his flashing smile, his easy grace, in the days when he had been a kind of a god to his younger sister. Now they were together again at Crestview--and it was as if Carol were facing a stranger...a stranger whom she knew she should help but could only fear...a stranger with bitterness curling his mouth...hate in his eyes...and blood on his hands....
Can we say melodramatic and over-the-top? Just a little bit.
Seriously, there are some mysterious goings-on at Crestview but not quite on this scale. Carol and her help (a housekeeper/cook and two maids) arrive at the family home to open it in time to receive her elder brother Greg who is home on leave from service in WWII. He's come back from the Pacific theater to receive a Medal of Honor and their mother wants him to have a chance to relax in the cool country air before returning to "that awful tropical heat." When the women reach the train station, there is no taxi to meet them as expected. When they reach the house, there is no caretaker to greet them with breakfast and a warm fire as expected. The gardener/handyman has disappeared. And what exactly is that odd smell?
Before the morning is over, they discover that the handyman is in the hospital with appendicitis and the caretaker has fallen down the stairs the previous Friday and is in the hospital with a broken leg. Oh, and there's a dead body in the linen closet. That somebody tried to burn to prevent identification. By then end of the book, there is another murder and a shooting. The local chief of police goes from having the usual respect (of the period) for the uppercrust, to an all-out effort to make one of the Spencer family out as the guilty party. He finally settles for the war hero. ***Spoiler Alert*****
Because after all, the war hero was tricked into a marriage with a "little tramp" who seemed to have come East specifically to blackmail somebody. (The "little" tramp would be the body in the closet.) And said hero was planning on marrying a society lady--who probably wouldn't be too happy to hear that her hubby-to-be had gotten himself entangled.
Carol doesn't know what to think. Did Greg do it? Did her sister Elinor, who has always been devoted to Greg, do it? Or is she just covering up for him? Or maybe it's somebody else altogether. She turns to her neighbor, Major Dane, for help. He just happens to be a recovering Army Intelligence officer of some sort...and soon he's uncovering all the evidence that the local police miss.
But Rinehart has plenty of tricks up her sleeve and she uses the Major's investigation to provide all surprises. Just when you think he's collected the final clue, along comes another to make you rethink the solution. Of course, with Rinehart, there is the standard romance and there are a few loose ends that don't quite get tied up in this one (not to mention a few vital clues that are kept just a little too ambigious), but over all a fun outing--I read this one in just one day!
April 15, 2022
The good parts: Carol, the main character, is a sister of the other hardheaded, capable Rinehart women caught up in weird-ass spooky goings-on. Also, the weird-ass spooky goings-on are pretty weird and definitely spooky. Plus, this was written and is set in wartime 1945, so it has a very interesting perspective on the shortages and other losses common to the time.
The bad parts: about halfway through, Carol's point of view and role is diminished in favor of that of recovering soldier/investigator/love interest Jerry Dane. He's OK (as are his pals who help with the investigation), but you've heard his kind before, and as the book goes on it becomes more jingoistic and full of sentiments along the lines of War Does That To a Man and Though Trained To Kill He Can Still Be Tender. And let's not even mention Also, the solution is a little out of nowhere, with a lot of explaining and clarification necessary at the end to pull it off.
I think it's still worth reading, if you like this sort of thing, but I would definitely recommend The Swimming Pool instead, which is essentially the same book but better.
The bad parts: about halfway through, Carol's point of view and role is diminished in favor of that of recovering soldier/investigator/love interest Jerry Dane. He's OK (as are his pals who help with the investigation), but you've heard his kind before, and as the book goes on it becomes more jingoistic and full of sentiments along the lines of War Does That To a Man and Though Trained To Kill He Can Still Be Tender. And let's not even mention Also, the solution is a little out of nowhere, with a lot of explaining and clarification necessary at the end to pull it off.
I think it's still worth reading, if you like this sort of thing, but I would definitely recommend The Swimming Pool instead, which is essentially the same book but better.
September 3, 2025
Being one of Mary Roberts Rinehart's later mysteries, her earlier dated "had I but known" pattern of foreshadowing references has [fortunately] been left behind, as this takes the form of a classic golden age mystery. It is a good page-turner, with the culprit and motive a surprise until the last few pages. The last chapter kept me alert as various teasers pointed at different culprits before settling on the real one.
Set during WWII, the military is well represented with the few men in the story having cover stories of being on medical leave, to explain their presence in Maine despite the war being underway. I kept wondering when Jerry Dane's background and authority as the investigator would be revealed, but this did not occur.
This is a great country house mystery, complete with the requisite staff of servants lurking around. Rinehart plays fair with the reader as the mystery comes to a satisfying close.
Set during WWII, the military is well represented with the few men in the story having cover stories of being on medical leave, to explain their presence in Maine despite the war being underway. I kept wondering when Jerry Dane's background and authority as the investigator would be revealed, but this did not occur.
This is a great country house mystery, complete with the requisite staff of servants lurking around. Rinehart plays fair with the reader as the mystery comes to a satisfying close.
Read
December 26, 2016Not bad, but I wish Carol had taken a more proactive role.
April 19, 2021
VERY of its time and I can see it translated easily to the silver screen.
Enjoying the old books, though that I have to read them on my phone screen is...ironic? Odd? Need to find a book-sized screen :)
ENjoy!
Enjoying the old books, though that I have to read them on my phone screen is...ironic? Odd? Need to find a book-sized screen :)
ENjoy!
Read
February 13, 2022Started off alright, but it started to drag towards the end. Unsatisfying conclusion.
November 8, 2024
My goodness, I love Mary Roberts Rinehart in all her 1940s glory! This has got the practical, not quite beautiful, but still occasionally fainting young woman main character, Carol, whose family has fallen on hard times between the two World Wars / during WW2. Carol's family is hanging onto their fancy "summer house" in Maine and trying to keep the servants happy. Sniff, sniff, that poor family! Carol's fiance is missing and presumed dead in the war and she's somewhat sardonically embracing the role of spinster at age 24. Her older sister is married to a super rich guy and only cares about clothes and parties. Carol goes to Maine to "open the house" and prepare for her neurotic mother's arrival, but finds - A PARTIALLY BURNT CORPSE IN THE CLOSET! Woah! (This was actually pretty fabulous.) Who is it? Will the servants stay, having been subjected to such a thing? How is her sister involved? Is there more than one missing guy? Why is everyone in town running around in cars or alone in pajamas in the middle of the night? How is it that everyone seems to be hiding something? Will war hero Jerry Dane's leg heal, and will he fall in love with Carol while he's trying to help solve the mystery? STAY TUNED!
Oh PS: I think the picture on the front of the Kindle edition is hilarious. This book has nothing, nothing, nothing to do with beaches or beach chairs. It's set in Maine but most of it has to do with the house (WITH THE BURNT CORPSE IN IT!), and the isolated hills around it. You know, Stephen King Maine, not Beach Maine.
Oh PS: I think the picture on the front of the Kindle edition is hilarious. This book has nothing, nothing, nothing to do with beaches or beach chairs. It's set in Maine but most of it has to do with the house (WITH THE BURNT CORPSE IN IT!), and the isolated hills around it. You know, Stephen King Maine, not Beach Maine.
November 23, 2014
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.
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.
May 6, 2013
Much better than I thought it would be. I tend to read mostly historical fiction, but this mystery which takes place during WW2 is definitely a good read. REcommended by a friend, I found this book to be a real page-turner. The story stayed with me and I didn't want to put it down. A weak spot was the "romance" between the main characters, which I found to be lacklustre and indifferent. The author relegates any since of burgeoning attraction between the main characters strictly to the immagination of the reader. I'm told her other books are "even better," so will probably look for more from Rinehart.
March 16, 2014
I read this book, along with everything else by Rinehart I could get my hands on, several times in the 70s. As I was selecting books to get rid of, I pulled the yellowed paperback off the shelf and decided to read it again. Now I know why it survived years of purges. Her plots are fairly complex, and the writing moves along, making for a quick read. There's no gratuitous sex or violence (well, yes, there's murder, but it takes place offstage). This book was written in 1945, and it still holds up today. This was just the ticket to read after a couple of long and extremely complicated current novels.
February 19, 2016
I rated this book highly because I was looking for escape, and this and another Rinehart's mystery filled that void for me. It's a bit dated, about a well-to-do family with a summer house in Maine, and that's where the mystery takes place. But if you're looking for escape, it's a good one.
May 26, 2013
This was a good murder mystery. 4.5 stars.
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