The Wall

By Mary Roberts Rinehart

An unwelcome visitor arrives at a seaside home to find that death awaits her there.

The house called Sunset has been Marcia's summer home for her entire life. Both of her parents died there, and she and her brother spent their youth exploring its rambling hallways and seaside grounds. They love the old house, but Marcia's sister-in-law has never taken to it. Juliette loathes the sea, and soon comes to loathe her husband, as well. After they divorce, Juliette pays a final visit to Sunset, demanding alimony. She is there for a few tense days before she disappears. It takes them a week to find her body.

The peace at Sunset has been shattered, and Marcia must work quickly to keep her beloved childhood home from being forever spoiled. Somewhere in the creaky old mansion, a murderer lurks. Will Marcia be accused of the crime? Or will she be the next victim?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784088170

Mary Roberts Rinehart

Often referred to as the American Agatha Christie, Mary Roberts Rinehart was an American journalist and writer who is best known for the murder mystery The Circular Staircase—considered to have started the “Had-I-but-known” school of mystery writing—and the popular Tish mystery series. A prolific writer, Rinehart was originally educated as a nurse, but turned to writing as a source of income after the 1903 stock market crash. Although primarily a fiction writer, Rinehart served as the Saturday Evening Post’s correspondent for from the Belgian front during the First World War, and later published a series of travelogues and an autobiography. Roberts died in New York City in 1958.

Reviews for The Wall

[chazzifrazz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I discovered this book in a box of books I was clearing out from storage. According to a booklist I maintain, I had already read this book. I can usually tell if I had by the first chapter. This time out I think I may have made an error on my list. I started reading to see and found that I had to continue to the end.

It has been a while since I've read Rinehart and I wasn't disappointed by this book. I took my time to enjoy the mystery and the setting. Written in the 1930s and set at a New England lake resort, it takes place on the property of one of the number of estates.

The ex-wife of one of the long-time property owners is murdered. She has not been there for a number of years, but suddenly shows up unannounced. She has not been the nicest of people and there is no lack of candidates to be the murderer.

The local Sheriff is presented with few clues and the local prosecutor who is dying to pin it on someone to make himself look good as elections are coming up. Sifting through the real clues and the red herrings it a slow but necessary task.

The twists and turns kept me reading and thinking about the story trying to solve it myself. A Goodread for me!