Mary Roberts Rinehart

Circular Staircase the Original Classic Mystery Complete & Unabridged Mary Roberts Rinehart

Marc Notes: Originally published in 1907.; The original classic mystery complete & unabridged.. Publisher Marketing: This premium quality large print volume includes the complete and unabridged original classic version of Mary Roberts Rinehart's "The Circular Staircase" in a freshly edited and newly typeset edition. With a large 7.44"x9.69" page size, this Summit Classic Press edition is printed on heavyweight bright white paper with page headers a fully laminated cover featuring an original full color design. By increasing the page size along with the font size we are able to reduce printing costs and make this complete, unabridged large print edition, an exact counterpart of our standard edition, available at reasonable cost. Also included in this edition are an original, detailed biography discussing the life and work of author Mary Roberts Rinehart and annotations, added sparingly, to assist the modern reader with particularly unusual words or usages. "The Circular Staircase..." "This is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lost her mind, deserted her domestic gods in the city, took a furnished house for the summer out of town, and found herself involved in one of those mysterious crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous. . ." And so begins "The Circular Staircase, " Mary Roberts Rinehart's classic mystery tale featuring a bank failure, a murder, mysterious intruders, a kidnapping, arson and a characteristically complex plot which twists and turns like the circular staircase that figures so prominently, and ominously, in setting the scene for a series of mysterious events. "Mary Roberts Rinehart" Mary Roberts Rinehart (August 12, 1876-September 22, 1958) was a popular and successful American writer best known for her mysteries. Sometimes referred to as "the American Agatha Christie," Rinehart's first mystery novel actually appeared over a decade before Christie's. She is considered the originator of the "Had-I-But-Known" style of mystery, as well as the source of the phrase "The butler did it." Contributor Bio:  Rinehart, Mary Roberts American novelist and playwright Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1958), originator of the phrase "The butler did it," is best known for such mystery stories as "The Circular Staircase" and "The Man in Lower Ten". Contributor Bio:  Press, Summit Classic "Yogi Ramacharaka" was actually one of many pseudonyms used by William Walker Atkinson (1862-1932), a prolific American writer who was a major force behind the "new thought" movement and published extensively in areas of yoga, the occult, eastern mysticism, personal development, and related subjects. Atkinson is believed to have written over 100 books, but he worked from behind a series of pen names and published most of his work through two publishing companies which he owned and operated. It is impossible to know with any certainty how many of the "authors" to whom books were attributed were in fact Atkinson himself. A successful businessman and attorney, Atkinson suffered what may have been a nervous breakdown in the late 1880's and, in the course of his recovery, became immersed in the "new thought" movement, eastern mysticism, and yoga. He relocated to Chicago, epicenter of the New Thought movement, became the editor of multiple New Thought magazines, and began publishing his books. While the Ramacharaka persona may have been fictitious, Atkinson was in fact a serious and devoted student and practitioner of yoga, and was a major force in introducing yoga and Hindu philosophy and eastern religious mysticism to the United States. The Ramacharaka writings are still widely read and well-respected, and his Advanced Course in Yoga Philosophy and Oriental Occultism is still widely considered an excellent basic text for the western layman. Contributor Bio:  Bandy, G Edward "Yogi Ramacharaka" was actually one of many pseudonyms used by William Walker Atkinson (1862-1932), a prolific American writer who was a major force behind the "new thought" movement and published extensively in areas of yoga, the occult, eastern mysticism, personal development, and related subjects. Atkinson is believed to have written over 100 books, but he worked from behind a series of pen names and published most of his work through two publishing companies which he owned and operated. It is impossible to know with any certainty how many of the "authors" to whom books were attributed were in fact Atkinson himself. A successful businessman and attorney, Atkinson suffered what may have been a nervous breakdown in the late 1880's and, in the course of his recovery, became immersed in the "new thought" movement, eastern mysticism, and yoga. He relocated to Chicago, epicenter of the New Thought movement, became the editor of multiple New Thought magazines, and began publishing his books. While the Ramacharaka persona may have been fictitious, Atkinson was in fact a serious and devoted student and practitioner of yoga, and was a major force in introducing yoga and Hindu philosophy and eastern religious mysticism to the United States. The Ramacharaka writings are still widely read and well-respected, and his Advanced Course in Yoga Philosophy and Oriental Occultism is still widely considered an excellent basic text for the western layman.