The Door

SPOILER ALERT: This is the mystery novel that began the genre of "The Butler Did It." Of course, while that is a complete spoiler alert, I must add that the book is skillfully written, and until the end, I kept wondering how the author was going to pull it off.....

A classic of the "had-I-but-known" school of mystery, invented by Rinehart, in which the narrator relates the tale as a reminiscence, commenting throughout on the oversights of the characters. The voice is pure Rinehart -- that wry, breezy, conversational tone of the strong older woman who is shocked but resolute as her world disintegrates around her.

This book is also held responsible for a favorite mystery cliché, but you'll have to Google that, lest it spoil someone's reading...

After reading Man in the Lower Ten I researched the life of Mary Roberts Rinehart as I thought I had read some of her novels when I was in high school but couldn't remember any of the titles and wanted to know more about the author. Learning Rinehart was "an American writer, often called the American Agatha Christie, although her first mystery novel was published 14 years before Christie's first novel in 1920" was extraordinary. "Rinehart is also considered to have invented the 'Had-I-But-Known' school of mystery writing, with the publication of The Circular Staircase (1908)" so that had to be my next selection to read by this author. At the same time I learned that "Rinehart is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it" show more from her novel The Door (1930), although the novel does not use the exact phrase” but in many ways the information didn't truly register with me.

I started reading The Door and became quite absorbed in the twists and turns and as I was still trying to “solve” the first murder, it was quickly followed by another, and then another, and well you get the idea. I had many suspicions along the way only to turn to the last page and be totally wrong.

I'm so happy that I rediscovered the mysteries by Mary Roberts Rinehart. I can't wait to read more of her novels. show less

September 18, 2000
The Door
Mary Roberts Rhinehart

Sarah Gittings, Elizabeth Bell's family nurse, has just been brutally murdered. But all thoughts of a homicidal maniac running amok are banished when the evidence reveals that Sarah actually knew and trusted her murderer. Now, Elizabeth Bell is about to discover that her staid and orderly household harbors more than one suspect with a motive--and unfortunately, more than one victim.

Though I occasionally need a break from MRR, there are times when I’m so addicted to her excellent stories that I just can’t get enough. I know they’re all similar. Different plots, but always the same characters (with different names). I don’t care, though. I love the wonderful sense of foreboding I show more always feel when reading one of her books, and the rather unique way of building suspense that she has – you know something terrible has happened, because she tells you “if only she had known what would happen that day, things would have been different”, and at that point you can’t help but read on. It’s a talent of hers, this method. show less

A century after Mary Roberts Rinehart first put pen to paper, her novels remain as thrilling as ever. In The Door, set in Upstate New York in 1927, practical spinster Elizabeth Jane Bell sees her household troubled by the death of Sarah Gittings, a woman who had served as nurse to her family for 20 years. Who could have killed the unemotional Sarah? It turns out that it is someone with a very good handle on the household’s layout and routine. Soon Elizabeth’s family are all suspecting one another.

I was lucky enough to listen to The Door on Audible; Liza Ross did a fabulous job as narrator.

96. The Door by Mary Roberts Rinehart (read 1942) I was in eighth grade when I read this book and know that I really liked it.