Book Review: The Circular Staircase

This is a new author to me. She wrote during the early 1900's as is considered the American version of Agatha Christie. This is the book that launched her to fame. It tells the story of an old maid who adopted the two children of her sister after her death. She raised them from childhood and made sure they always had the best of everything she could offer. 


Living in the city, our heroine Rachel Innes, decided to take a house in the country for the summer. Her niece and nephew, both now young adults, helped her choose a rambling country estate called Sunnyside. Little did they know that only one day into their stay, they would be swept up into a current of mystery and murder. 


At one end of the enormous house was a circular staircase. It was there that the body was found in the wee hours of the morning that fateful day. Miss Innes heard a shot and found the body of a young man, a stranger to her, at the foot of the circular staircase. She later learned he was the son of the home's owners, who had gone west for the summer. 


The plot thickens when it becomes apparent that someone keeps trying to break into the house. The house staff and Miss Innes personal assistant believe a ghost is to blame, and most of them quit after only a few days, too afraid to stay. As details about the young man who was murdered begin to surface, it turns out that he was not someone who would be mourned by those who knew him. And then there was his father. His father was president of a bank in town and when the bank suddenly failed, officials discover that his father had embezzled over a million dollars. Conveniently, the thief suddenly died.


As if that wasn't bad enough, the sister of the murdered man was being forced to marry an unscrupulous doctor, who ended up being part of the scam at the bank. That sister was actually in love with the nephew of Miss Innes, and he with her. This young lady knew that her wicked father had faked his death to avoid prosecution, but to keep the family name from being dishonored, this doctor was forcing the young lady to marry him by threatening exposure of her father if she refused. 


As it turned out, the stolen money was hidden in a secret room at Sunnyside and the numerous attempts to break in or to scare the Innes family away were all in an attempt to access the money.


There are numerous subplots and probably a dozen other important characters that are woven into this complicated mystery, but you will have to read the book yourself to learn about all of them. By the time all the loose ends were tied up, 5 people had died, and three weddings were planned. With only a little over 200 pages and all those people to kill off, not a  single paragraph was boring. There is a distinct advantage to reading "old books" because they tend to be devoid of much of the language and immoral values found in modern tales.


We are still sick around here, so it looks like another day to curl up with some great books. Who knows, maybe I'll have another review tomorrow. :)


#49 out of 52 in the "Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge"