The life of America's first best-selling suspense novelist and playwright is presented in full detail, from Rinehart's role as a World War I trench reporter to her fascination with native American culture. National ad/promo.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Mystery writer MacLeod draws heavily on Rinehart's autobiography ( My Story ) to detail her subject's life, and the result, though readable, lacks objectivity and insight. Rinehart (1876-1958), an enormously popular author best known for her mystery novels ( The Circular Staircase ), also worked as a journalist and toured the Western front during WW I. While training to become a nurse, she married Stanley Rinehart, a doctor, managed to cope with his temper tantrums for 36 years and raised their three sons, while also writing prolifically and attracting mounting fame. After the death of her husband, Rinehart developed an interest in spiritualism and consulted mediums to contact him. Clearly an admirer, MacLeod argues that though Rinehart's writing style now seems dated, she deserves credit for paving the way for modern mystery writers. Fair enough. But unfortunately, MacLeod's uncritical attitude does her subject a disservice by simplifying her. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In this work, MacLeod, herself a well-known writer of mysteries (The Resurrection Man, Warner, 1993), chronicles the life of Rinehart, one of America's premier mystery writers (The Circular Staircase, 1909). Though MacLeod's writing is at times overwrought, once she gets rolling, she's a crackling good storyteller, especially when she gets past Rinehart's childhood years and into her more adventurous later years. In addition to being a beloved and best-selling author, Rinehart was a nurse, a war correspondent, and an outdoorswoman. She visited the Belgian front in the early days of World War II, met with and interviewed royalty, acted as an ambassador for the Blackfoot Indians, raised three sons, and cared for a seemingly endless supply of frail relations. Rinehart fans will want this book, and readers of biography and social history will also find it of interest. Recommended for all libraries.
Denise Johnson, Bradley Univ. Lib., Peoria, Ill.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Denise Johnson, Bradley Univ. Lib., Peoria, Ill.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
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This review is from: Had She but Known: A Biography of Mary Roberts Rinehart (Hardcover)
Mary Roberts Rhinehart was at one time as popular as Agatha Christie. She's a forgotten mother of literary suspense in America. I got into Rhinehart when I was a teenager reading old gothics and suspense paperback from the library. The biography is not exciting but it's a solid and overdue look into the life of a literary phenomenon.
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