"The Circular Staircase" (1908) by Mary Roberts Rinehart is a pioneering American mystery novel. Spinster Rachel Innes rents a country house called Sunnyside for the summer with her nephew Halsey and niece Gertrude. Their peaceful retreat is shattered when a midnight gunshot reveals a dead man lying at the foot of the circular staircase—the son of the house's owner. As strange occurrences multiply, including mysterious noises, disappearing servants, and hidden passages, Miss Innes becomes an unlikely amateur detective. Unraveling secrets involving bank fraud, family scandal, and a mysterious invalid, she confronts real danger in this classic tale that helped define the mystery genre.
