Over a career spanning more than fifty years, Rinehart produced dozens of novels, plays, and short stories, selling millions of copies worldwide. Her notable works include the social dramas K (1914) and The Amazing Interlude (1918); the humorous Tish series, featuring a daring middle-aged spinster; and detective novels such as Miss Pinkerton (1932), The Wall (1936), and The Door (1930), which is famously associated with the phrase "the butler did it." She also worked as a war correspondent during both World Wars. Rinehart's blend of humor, romance, and suspense left a lasting mark on American popular fiction.
Mary Roberts Reinhardt
Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958) was an American novelist and playwright, often hailed as "the American Agatha Christie" and one of the best-selling mystery writers of the early twentieth century. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she trained as a nurse before turning to fiction to pay off family debts. Her first novel, The Circular Staircase (1908), became a landmark of the mystery genre and helped establish the "Had-I-But-Known" school of suspense, in which the narrator continually foreshadows impending danger. It was adapted into the hit Broadway play The Bat (1920), which later influenced the creation of Batman.