Mary Roberts Rinehart

Biography

Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958) was an American author often called the American Agatha Christie, though she predated Christie by a decade. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, she trained as a nurse before becoming one of the most popular and highest-paid writers in America. Her debut, The Circular Staircase (1908), pioneered the "Had I But Known" school of mystery fiction. She wrote over sixty books, including mysteries, romances, and war correspondence. During WWI she was one of the first journalists to visit the Western Front. Her famous phrase "The butler did it" (attributed but debated) became a mystery fiction cliché.