About Mary Roberts Rinehart
We list 14 books by Mary Roberts Rinehart so far, from 5 series.
Tagged on most of their books: Historical and 1920s.
Latest addition to our list: The Collected Works of Mary Roberts Rinehart: Mystery, domestic suspense, and adventurous women—from The Circular Staircase and The Bat to Tish's escapades (added May 2026).
If you like Mary Roberts Rinehart, try Agatha Christie, C.J. Archer and Colleen Cambridge.
What readers say
Mary Roberts Rinehart is best known as an early American mystery pioneer, credited with the had-I-but-known style in The Circular Staircase. Readers enjoy her witty, independent spinster sleuths, comic sparring between mistress and maid, spooky old houses and twisty plots with a tense finish, and value her books as forerunners of Golden Age crime. Common criticisms are long, convoluted and repetitive plots, characters who keep withholding vital facts, fainting heroines, and racist language and stereotypes that make some passages hard to read today.
Best for: Readers curious about classic early mysteries with gothic atmosphere and humor.
Summary of public reader reviews, updated November 2026.
![The Case of Jennie Brice [with Biographical Introduction]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41GQSXEw1+L._SL500_.jpg)
