Customer Reviews

The Bat

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I always enjoy reading her books due to the imagery and variety of different character types and personalities she incorporates into her story lines. The Bat was my favorite...it had the "old" mystery feel. The characters were very well described and therefore, easy to imagine. I began feeling what the characters felt and encountered in that dark, old estate. It is hard for me to get through a book without getting bored and starting on another. However, The Bat traveled with me to work, the gym and house each day, just so I could finish it. I couldn't seem to put it down. Great piece of literature...one I would highly recommend for those who love a good mystery!

"The Bat" was originally written by Mary Roberts Rinehart as a play in 1926 -- it ultimately emerged as a silent film, additional remakes, etceteras. It's a cool mystery story, albeit the text/dialogue is notably stilted (justifiably) due to its intended purpose for the stage.

However, "The Bat" is clearly a re-working of a far superior story (an actual novel, which was also later made into a film), brilliantly written by Rinehart in 1908 and entitled: THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE.

So here's the deal. I'm pretty sure that if you're a huge Rinehart fan and assuming you've already read "The Circular Staircase," (Rinehart's Magnum opus) then you're not going to care much for "The Bat," due chiefly to the writing style and additionally considering the fact that it comes off as a watered-down version of its genesis.

Here's the basic story of "The Bat": An elite, rich, and spunky older lady rents a country house for the summer along with her skittish Irish maid and her niece. Some servants sort of come with the property but most soon abandon their new matron due to happenings within this large mansion. A converging plot concerns the homeowner (a banker) who has recently died and whose bank has just coincidentally failed -- the suspicion falls upon a youthful bank clerk who is the heart-throb of the old lady's niece. The central plot revolves around a mysterious and effective murder/burglar dubbed by the frustrated police as The Bat, (a character who does not appear in the original novel form) and who has been operating in the vicinity of this country home. The subsequent happenings in the house are almost slapstick in nature, in the old lady's efforts in solving the mystery of both the infamous Bat's activities and the bank embezzlement.

Rinehart is nowadays generally lauded as the "If I had but known" school of mystery writing and she was infinitely successful in carrying out that novelistic endeavor. Her mysteries typically focus upon the happenings within some mysterious edifice, ergo: The Yellow Room and The Red Lamp. Both of these well-known mystery novels are terrific and the former may arguably be the greatest mystery of all time, (in fact, Agatha Christie's renowned fictional detective, Hercule Poirot, asserts this as fact in The Clocks (Hercule Poirot).)

If you wish to read "The Bat" as a pure Rinehart fan, I heartily endorse your decision to do so. And if you prefer a more pulp-fiction era detective approach to mystery writing, conveying the ambiance of Ellery Queen and/or Raymond Chandler, then you may actually prefer "The Bat" over "The Circular Staircase." But if you favor a Christie/Sayers cozy murder, then go for the former alternative. One final difference between the two works is this: "The Circular Staircase" is conveyed in First Person, while "The Bat" is yielded up in Third Person.

In any case, just because the marketers have published this edition to "appear" to be a novel, don't be fooled -- this one is a re-tread, and was originally intended for production as a play. A minor point, I should also mention that the text contains some fairly mild racist language which was very typical of the fiction of this period.

_a fine blend of the gothic and mystery ...makes this novel an excellent example of the "had I but known" school of detective fiction . This fast pace novel will keep noir fans captivated.

The Bat is probably the most popular of all of the novels of America's great female mystery writer, Mary Roberts Rinehart, and it is quite simply one of the finest mystery/suspense novels ever written. The plot is outstanding, the atmosphere is unremittingly tense and apprehensive, and the conclusion is totally surprising without being contrived. If you like good mysteries you will probably love The Bat.

This has to be her best play but I prefer the book it was based on....a good read, nevertheless. Mary Roberts Rineheart is the BEST mystery writer!

A spirited dowager rents a summer home that may be haunted -- or may be the target of a master criminal. "The Bat" recycles many of the plot points and character types of "The Circular Staircase," but in my opinion, isn't as well-conceived. Pervasive, offensive depictions of the Irish and Japanese servants also detract from the story.

The book under review was not originally conceived of as a novel ,but is,to use modern parlance,a "novelisation " of the author's long running Broadway play,which also made it to the screen around the same time as the book was published (1926).Some scholars have claimed that it was actually ghost written and should more properly be classed as being by the eminent poet Stephen Vincent Benet,rather than its declared author.

Its origins on stage doubtless account for declamatory feel of the dialogue and for its restricted setting -one chapter apart ,all scenes takes place in one setting -and its cast of cardboard ,stock characters .

The Bat is a master criminal -a thief and murderer whose crimes have caused alarm amongst the wealthy section of society that he appears to be targetting .Events take place in the rented vacation home of the an elderly patrician maiden lady named Cornelia Van Gorder.She is staying there with Lizzie,her Irish maid and an inscrutable japanese butler ,named Billy.Also present is her niece ,Dale .Cornelia receives a series of letters ,warning her to leave the property or else face the consequences .

A robbery has recently taken place and it is believed the robbber has stashed the loot away in the house.Possible suspects include the chief cashier of the robbed bank ,secretly engaged to Dale and working as a gardener on the estate ,under an alias and the local Doctor .The investigation is in the dull and unimaginative hands of Detective Anderson.

The book is fast paced but never remotely plausible and the characters are strictly one dimensional "types" rather than credible human beings .cornelia herself is the standard indomitable spinster unfazed by the mayhem going on all around her and might be seen as a prototype for late characters like Hildegard Withers or even Miss Marple.

Some will not like the casuaal racial stereoptyping .Overall ,this book is showing its age .The plot is creaky ,the writing flat but the pace helps keep one reading and disguises the very average story

It should be taken as a social document and used to illustrate how much better most current writing in this Gothic vein is compared to such period pieces as this.It's readable but only just

Good old fashioned mystery thriller, a little corny since it was written 100 years ago, but nice relaxing reading that has some mystery to it.

I have read other of her books and liked them. This one, however, was drawn out and did not keep my attention. Half way through, I realized I did not care how it ended, so stopped reading.

Good communication. Quick shipping. The book was in perfect condition. Seller was easy to work with.