What do you think?
Rate this book
The Wall
A murder at a seaside estate brings a wealthy family’s buried conflicts to the surface Marcia Lloyd and her brother Arthur have spent every summer of their lives exploring the grand halls and seaside grounds of their family’s idyllic vacation home, a gorgeous old mansion called Sunset House built by their grandfather. But when Arthur’s ex-wife Juliette arrives at Sunset to demand alimony from him, things take a dark turn and Juliette disappears―her body found a week later. What sordid secrets lie within the creaky old manor? Marcia and the local sheriff Russell Shand must work against the clock to find the murderer in this seemingly utopian upper-class hamlet. From “the American Agatha Christie” Mary Roberts Rinehart comes a Golden Age murder mystery inspired by her own hauntingly beautiful coastal northeastern home in Bar Harbor; The Wall is both a love letter to quiet waterfront towns as well as a subtle indictment of a wealthy Old New York family attempting to preserve a bourgeois veneer in the shadow of the Great Depression. But beneath all that lies a timeless tale of a family whose conflicts and passions, long masked by efforts toward respectability, finally rise to the surface with violent results. Originally serialized in The Saturday Evening Post and published in 1938, this classic small-town cozy was among Rinehart’s most popular titles in her day; reprinted for the first time in over twenty years, its atmospheric setting and memorable characters continue to distinguish it to this day. Includes discussion guide questions for use in book clubs.
312 pages, Hardcover
Published May 4, 2021
294 people are currently reading
905 people want to read
About the author
Mary Roberts Rinehart
549 books424 followersMysteries of the well-known American writer Mary Roberts Rinehart include
The Circular Staircase
(1908) and
The Door
(1930).
People often called this prolific author the American version of Agatha Christie. She is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it," though the exact phrase doesn't appear in her works, and she invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing.
Rinehart wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues, and special articles. Many of her books and plays were adapted for movies, such as The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). Critics most appreciated her murder mysteries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ro...
People often called this prolific author the American version of Agatha Christie. She is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it," though the exact phrase doesn't appear in her works, and she invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing.
Rinehart wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues, and special articles. Many of her books and plays were adapted for movies, such as The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). Critics most appreciated her murder mysteries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ro...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
August 25, 2025
“Weeks afterwards I was to remember that conversation: to see Mrs. Curtis standing uneasily by the door, and to know she had told me something that day which was vitally important. But it was too late then. The thing was done.”
Pastoral in its evocative depiction of another time and place, imbued with an involving murder mystery that deepens as the disappearances and bodies begin to pile up, and with a feminine young woman of class fallen on hard times, Mary Roberts Rinehart’s The Wall, released in 1938, might be the zenith of the more than considerable mark she left on the genre.
Often touted as the American Agatha Christie, their styles and approach to the form is so very different it is a disservice to both Rinehart and Christie to compare them. Both writers at their best can be wonderful, but they are not similar in any way other than genre. It is sad that since her passing, Rinehart, who was tops in sales and popularity for decades, has become more obscure, while Christie’s reputation has only grown, keeping her in print all over the world.
Not in style or form certainly, but in her post-passing reputation, Rinehart has more similarities to the great master of noir suspense, Cornell Woolrich. He suffers the same “modern-day” literary comparisons to Chandler and Hammett and Spillane, as Rinehart does to Christie. The reason is obvious. Like Woolrich, Rinehart never relied on a true series, Fill-in-the-Blank detective; there was her nurse, Hilda Adams, a.k.a. Miss Pinkerton, in a few mysteries, but there is not a single series character of longevity for which Rinehart is remembered, such as Christie with Poirot, or Wentworth with Miss Silver, or Raymond Chandler with Philip Marlowe.
Rinehart’s mysteries weren’t all great, just as Christie’s weren’t all cracker jacks, but at her absolute best she crafted wonderfully atmospheric mysteries where the people involved were left to figure out what had happened and why, sometimes aided by a sheriff or local policeman, as in The Wall. Usually there was a dash of romance in the mix as well, and The Wall is no exception.
Rinehart used foreshadowing in so brilliant a manner that it became associated with her name. Most mystery lovers will find it wonderful, but it has also become a very unfair knock on her in “modern” times. Perhaps that says more about today’s reading public however, than it does her excellent skill and value as a writer, and her well-deserved lofty place in the history of the genre.
One doesn’t think of The Yellow Room or The Wall and get excited at another Archibald Whatshisname detective story! No, it’s more a fond memory of a time and place, and mystery and romance. Reading one of Rinehart’s best mysteries — and The Wall is most assuredly that! — is like standing under a cool waterfall in the blistering heat of summer, and recalling afterward how refreshing it felt. I can think of no better way to describe The Wall than that.
Marcia Lloyd returns to Sunset House at the summer colony long after the events as this novel begins, and it makes for a wonderful mystery full of hindsight and foreshadowing, allowing Marcia to recall all the momentous events before and after the murder. Rinehart magically turns the expansive summer playground of the well-to-do into a claustrophobic Petri dish where all the ingredients combine for murder. There is even a touch of something otherworldly at Sunset, as bells ring in unoccupied rooms of this grand summer house, with no natural explanation.
“It would be idiotic,” he observed, “to think we know all about this universe of ours.”
But the weightier problem is the very real danger that Marcia’s brother Arthur might be arrested and charged with the murder of his former wife, who has returned to Sunset. Juliette was a beautiful leech who affected more than one male among the wealthier set who summer on those New England shores. Why had Juliette returned to Sunset of all places? Why was she so desperate to renegotiate the exorbitant alimony which had already drained both Arthur’s and his sister Marcia’s funds? Was it the reason for her murder?
The foreshadowing is expertly done as Marcia recalls the events in detail, painting a picture of that time and place, and the people of the colony Julia’s disappearance affects in startling ways. There is suspicion and quiet resentment among some, but hardly anyone seems truly sorry that Juliette is gone — at least none of the women. Juliette was awful, yet through Marcia, Rinehart hints at something more to Juliette and her callous, nary a care for anyone other than herself. And what of her servant, Jordan? She seems frightened even after Juliette is murdered. What does she know? Then she too disappears…
“In a way, the island at the time was divided into three schools of thought, as old Mrs. Pendexter put it: those who believed Arthur guilty of the murders, those who suspected Lucy, and those who never had an idea in their heads anyhow.”
Love has passed Marcia by in the past but Tony, who dropped her and is now regretful, is still around. But it is someone new to the island Marcia begins to take into her heart, hoping the charming but mysterious Allen Pell can help in some way. But Marcia is also suspicious of his motives, and his vaguely suggested prior connection to Juliette. Her quiet and old-fashioned romantic feelings intermingle with the mystery, and they are artfully and skillfully captured by Rinehart in a naturally flowing way that is unobtrusive to the solving of the crime. It is in fact, a very important element to the story.
“This is not a love story. In a way it is the story of a story, hidden from us at the time but underlying everything that happened.”
As the mystery deepens, new motives emerge, widening the pool of suspects. Even once someone is finally arrested, neither Marcia, nor other members of the summer colony are anywhere near certain that it could be true —
“There was only one question I could not answer. Had he hated her enough to kill her?”
The unraveling of the murders is both complex and exciting, as well as logical, with nearly everyone obscuring the facts for personal reasons which have nothing to do with justice; but rather protecting someone they believe to be innocent, or self-sacrifice and empathy. The last few chapters of this brilliant novel are about as riveting as it gets, the reader unable to turn pages fast enough.
Though in the end it is wily and kindly old sheriff, Russell Shand, who finally puts all the pieces together, it feels like Rinehart’s wonderful and relatable heroine Marcia Lloyd is the impetus for his determination to protect those who look guilty yet are innocent. He doggedly gets to the bottom of everything, despite, as he laments, having too many leads and not enough clues.
This is a masterwork of mystery fiction as fine as any you will ever come across. Rinehart paints a rich and vibrant world not only vividly, but so intimately that the reader feels a part of it, as though we’re right there by Marcia’s side as she stands looking out at the bay, with her little dog Chu-Chu by her side:
“I came back home, to this porch, to the monotony of high tide and low tide, dawn and sunset. It seemed as though the world had suddenly stood still; that everything had stopped and my mind went on, feverishly active.”
I can’t overstate the pleasurable experience of reading this wonderful mystery novel. The ending is as satisfying as any in mystery fiction. I place Mary Roberts Rinehart’s The Wall in the lofty stratosphere of Vera Caspary’s Laura, Dorothy Macardle’s The Uninvited, and Robert Nathan’s Portrait of Jennie; they are on a mental shelf containing stories so good they transcend genre, and are simply classics.
This writer, this book, and this heroine all hold an affectionate place in this reader's heart. If you only read one Mary Robert’s Rinehart novel in your lifetime, I would suggest The Wall, from 1938. Magnificent.
Pastoral in its evocative depiction of another time and place, imbued with an involving murder mystery that deepens as the disappearances and bodies begin to pile up, and with a feminine young woman of class fallen on hard times, Mary Roberts Rinehart’s The Wall, released in 1938, might be the zenith of the more than considerable mark she left on the genre.
Often touted as the American Agatha Christie, their styles and approach to the form is so very different it is a disservice to both Rinehart and Christie to compare them. Both writers at their best can be wonderful, but they are not similar in any way other than genre. It is sad that since her passing, Rinehart, who was tops in sales and popularity for decades, has become more obscure, while Christie’s reputation has only grown, keeping her in print all over the world.
Not in style or form certainly, but in her post-passing reputation, Rinehart has more similarities to the great master of noir suspense, Cornell Woolrich. He suffers the same “modern-day” literary comparisons to Chandler and Hammett and Spillane, as Rinehart does to Christie. The reason is obvious. Like Woolrich, Rinehart never relied on a true series, Fill-in-the-Blank detective; there was her nurse, Hilda Adams, a.k.a. Miss Pinkerton, in a few mysteries, but there is not a single series character of longevity for which Rinehart is remembered, such as Christie with Poirot, or Wentworth with Miss Silver, or Raymond Chandler with Philip Marlowe.
Rinehart’s mysteries weren’t all great, just as Christie’s weren’t all cracker jacks, but at her absolute best she crafted wonderfully atmospheric mysteries where the people involved were left to figure out what had happened and why, sometimes aided by a sheriff or local policeman, as in The Wall. Usually there was a dash of romance in the mix as well, and The Wall is no exception.
Rinehart used foreshadowing in so brilliant a manner that it became associated with her name. Most mystery lovers will find it wonderful, but it has also become a very unfair knock on her in “modern” times. Perhaps that says more about today’s reading public however, than it does her excellent skill and value as a writer, and her well-deserved lofty place in the history of the genre.
One doesn’t think of The Yellow Room or The Wall and get excited at another Archibald Whatshisname detective story! No, it’s more a fond memory of a time and place, and mystery and romance. Reading one of Rinehart’s best mysteries — and The Wall is most assuredly that! — is like standing under a cool waterfall in the blistering heat of summer, and recalling afterward how refreshing it felt. I can think of no better way to describe The Wall than that.
Marcia Lloyd returns to Sunset House at the summer colony long after the events as this novel begins, and it makes for a wonderful mystery full of hindsight and foreshadowing, allowing Marcia to recall all the momentous events before and after the murder. Rinehart magically turns the expansive summer playground of the well-to-do into a claustrophobic Petri dish where all the ingredients combine for murder. There is even a touch of something otherworldly at Sunset, as bells ring in unoccupied rooms of this grand summer house, with no natural explanation.
“It would be idiotic,” he observed, “to think we know all about this universe of ours.”
But the weightier problem is the very real danger that Marcia’s brother Arthur might be arrested and charged with the murder of his former wife, who has returned to Sunset. Juliette was a beautiful leech who affected more than one male among the wealthier set who summer on those New England shores. Why had Juliette returned to Sunset of all places? Why was she so desperate to renegotiate the exorbitant alimony which had already drained both Arthur’s and his sister Marcia’s funds? Was it the reason for her murder?
The foreshadowing is expertly done as Marcia recalls the events in detail, painting a picture of that time and place, and the people of the colony Julia’s disappearance affects in startling ways. There is suspicion and quiet resentment among some, but hardly anyone seems truly sorry that Juliette is gone — at least none of the women. Juliette was awful, yet through Marcia, Rinehart hints at something more to Juliette and her callous, nary a care for anyone other than herself. And what of her servant, Jordan? She seems frightened even after Juliette is murdered. What does she know? Then she too disappears…
“In a way, the island at the time was divided into three schools of thought, as old Mrs. Pendexter put it: those who believed Arthur guilty of the murders, those who suspected Lucy, and those who never had an idea in their heads anyhow.”
Love has passed Marcia by in the past but Tony, who dropped her and is now regretful, is still around. But it is someone new to the island Marcia begins to take into her heart, hoping the charming but mysterious Allen Pell can help in some way. But Marcia is also suspicious of his motives, and his vaguely suggested prior connection to Juliette. Her quiet and old-fashioned romantic feelings intermingle with the mystery, and they are artfully and skillfully captured by Rinehart in a naturally flowing way that is unobtrusive to the solving of the crime. It is in fact, a very important element to the story.
“This is not a love story. In a way it is the story of a story, hidden from us at the time but underlying everything that happened.”
As the mystery deepens, new motives emerge, widening the pool of suspects. Even once someone is finally arrested, neither Marcia, nor other members of the summer colony are anywhere near certain that it could be true —
“There was only one question I could not answer. Had he hated her enough to kill her?”
The unraveling of the murders is both complex and exciting, as well as logical, with nearly everyone obscuring the facts for personal reasons which have nothing to do with justice; but rather protecting someone they believe to be innocent, or self-sacrifice and empathy. The last few chapters of this brilliant novel are about as riveting as it gets, the reader unable to turn pages fast enough.
Though in the end it is wily and kindly old sheriff, Russell Shand, who finally puts all the pieces together, it feels like Rinehart’s wonderful and relatable heroine Marcia Lloyd is the impetus for his determination to protect those who look guilty yet are innocent. He doggedly gets to the bottom of everything, despite, as he laments, having too many leads and not enough clues.
This is a masterwork of mystery fiction as fine as any you will ever come across. Rinehart paints a rich and vibrant world not only vividly, but so intimately that the reader feels a part of it, as though we’re right there by Marcia’s side as she stands looking out at the bay, with her little dog Chu-Chu by her side:
“I came back home, to this porch, to the monotony of high tide and low tide, dawn and sunset. It seemed as though the world had suddenly stood still; that everything had stopped and my mind went on, feverishly active.”
I can’t overstate the pleasurable experience of reading this wonderful mystery novel. The ending is as satisfying as any in mystery fiction. I place Mary Roberts Rinehart’s The Wall in the lofty stratosphere of Vera Caspary’s Laura, Dorothy Macardle’s The Uninvited, and Robert Nathan’s Portrait of Jennie; they are on a mental shelf containing stories so good they transcend genre, and are simply classics.
This writer, this book, and this heroine all hold an affectionate place in this reader's heart. If you only read one Mary Robert’s Rinehart novel in your lifetime, I would suggest The Wall, from 1938. Magnificent.
July 5, 2025
An excellent murder mystery. It was great fun trying to sort it all out and identify our murderer and I came close, but in the words of Groucho Marx “no cigar”. I had ¾ of it nailed shortly before the end, but there was still a surprise, which is just grand when you are reading this kind of book.
There is a heroine who makes some blunders in the name of love; a dead villainess, who might deserve her fate at the hands of a dozen people; a mysterious stranger whom you fear might be the murderer, but hope is not; and an island sheriff who is savvy and kind and operates in a kind of Columbo clumsiness to get to the truth of the matter.
This is my third Rinehart mystery and I will gladly read her again. I like her style, the sophistication of her plots, and the honesty with which she lays out her mysteries. There is nothing withheld–we have all the pieces to the puzzle that our detective has–just as it should be.
There is a heroine who makes some blunders in the name of love; a dead villainess, who might deserve her fate at the hands of a dozen people; a mysterious stranger whom you fear might be the murderer, but hope is not; and an island sheriff who is savvy and kind and operates in a kind of Columbo clumsiness to get to the truth of the matter.
This is my third Rinehart mystery and I will gladly read her again. I like her style, the sophistication of her plots, and the honesty with which she lays out her mysteries. There is nothing withheld–we have all the pieces to the puzzle that our detective has–just as it should be.
November 23, 2022
The story told in The Wall by John Hersey is very similar to the story that Leon Uris related in Mila 18. The Wall came first, published in 1950, with Mila 18 being published in 1961. Both describe the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. I read Mila 18 many years go and remember being very much moved by it. Unfortunately, other than being able to say I found both novels very emotionally impactful, my memories of Mila 18 are too dim to compare the two. I looked for some comparative analyses but could not find much of anything. Both novels appear to have been well regarded by critics. Mila 18 is much more widely read and popular on Goodreads; that may be due to the greater popularity of Leon Uris or the timing of Mila 18 following closely after Uris’ success with Exodus.
I found The Wall very well written. I enjoyed the structure of the novel: at the beginning a fictional editor tells the reader that the story has been pieced together from journals kept by Noach Levinson and buried in the Ghetto during the war. In the novel Noach Levinson was a member of the Jewish community and eventually joined the resistance. The journals were dug up after the war. Being presented in this manner as factual reporting created for me a strong intimacy with the story and characters.
The story revolves around a group of families who at the beginning of the novel are co-located in a particular apartment house. The families look to Dolek Berson and Rachel Apt for strength and leadership. As the Germans use the entrapment of the Ghetto to funnel the Jews toward their “final solution”, the inhabitants inside the wall fight for their survival in ways that often reflect the personalities of the individuals.
I was pulled deeply into the story and found myself strongly attached to many of the characters. I even observed myself working to understand and sympathize with those whose behavior I did not admire, because we never know how we might react when faced with stress and fear. This novel is long, almost 600 pages, but I never felt that it should have been shorter. Highly recommended.
I found The Wall very well written. I enjoyed the structure of the novel: at the beginning a fictional editor tells the reader that the story has been pieced together from journals kept by Noach Levinson and buried in the Ghetto during the war. In the novel Noach Levinson was a member of the Jewish community and eventually joined the resistance. The journals were dug up after the war. Being presented in this manner as factual reporting created for me a strong intimacy with the story and characters.
The story revolves around a group of families who at the beginning of the novel are co-located in a particular apartment house. The families look to Dolek Berson and Rachel Apt for strength and leadership. As the Germans use the entrapment of the Ghetto to funnel the Jews toward their “final solution”, the inhabitants inside the wall fight for their survival in ways that often reflect the personalities of the individuals.
I was pulled deeply into the story and found myself strongly attached to many of the characters. I even observed myself working to understand and sympathize with those whose behavior I did not admire, because we never know how we might react when faced with stress and fear. This novel is long, almost 600 pages, but I never felt that it should have been shorter. Highly recommended.
March 12, 2024
Buddy read with Jessica! This is my second Mary Roberts Rinehart, and I loved it! It’s close to 400 pages so the tension is sustained over a long period of time before the pieces come together. Rinehart managed it all so well, and I did not guess anything. The murders in this mystery all happen on an island off the Atlantic coast that has a summer colony of New York’s wealthy families. The same families have come to their big houses year after year so the first murder creates an incredible shock in the community where relationships and secrets go way back. The pool of suspects is big. Our protagonist is a young woman named Marcia Lloyd and her detective friend is the long-time sheriff Russell Shand. I loved their relationship and their teamwork, though Shand is the one who ultimately puts all the pieces together.
Highly recommend this American Golden Age mystery! I’ll definitely be re-reading it in the future and already recommended it to the local bookstore owner in the beach town I’m staying in for a few days.
Highly recommend this American Golden Age mystery! I’ll definitely be re-reading it in the future and already recommended it to the local bookstore owner in the beach town I’m staying in for a few days.
June 19, 2022
An absolute cracker of a whodunit that had me guessing right up to the last 20 pages.
Summer on the island isn't all parties and golf as the bodies start to stack up, friends begin to suspect friends and odd things start to happen at Sunset House.
Brilliant! Definitely a classic and almost (not quite) better then The Circular Staircase.
Summer on the island isn't all parties and golf as the bodies start to stack up, friends begin to suspect friends and odd things start to happen at Sunset House.
Brilliant! Definitely a classic and almost (not quite) better then The Circular Staircase.
December 12, 2015
I have a bunch of old mystery paperbacks and grabbed one the other day and began reading it. The Wall was published in 1938 by Mary Roberts Rinehart. I’ve read other books by her and this one follows in her familiar style. It’s not a bad mystery, but it’s not her best. I skimmed some of it because I found the characters boring and I didn’t really care who killed Juliette, a woman who really deserved it.
So far, all of the MRR mysteries I’ve ever read follow this pattern: members of a wealthy family in financial distress come to stay at their summer home out of necessity and someone connected to the family is murdered. The narrator is usually the youngest, an unmarried daughter in her twenties trying to keep the family home together on a shoe string budget (well, a budget that usually includes servants because these people never do their own cooking or cleaning). Often there is an adored older brother who has done something stupid involving a very beautiful, but selfish and unpleasant woman. This book is very similar to both The Swimming Pool and The Yellow Room. However, both of those books have better mysteries and the characters are way more interesting. In The Wall, twenty-nine year old Marcia Lloyd is opening up the family home, the Sunset House, for the season. Aside from various servants, she will be joined by her older brother, Arthur, and his second wife, Mary Lou, and their young son. Unfortunately for them, Arthur’s first (and greatly despised) wife, Juliette, also shows up. She is afraid of someone and desperate for money. Even though Arthur pays her $12,000 a year in alimony, she wants a lump sum of $100,000—and she’s not leaving the house until she gets it. Juliette has the kind of sexy, provocative beauty men fall for and many of the wealthy men (the “summer set”) have been involved with her. She is hated by the wives and despised by the locals, so when she turns up missing, no one is surprised. Lots of people wanted to kill her—particularly Arthur and a mysterious man identified only as “L.”
Because this book was written almost a century ago (!), some patience is required regarding it. Women of the kind that Rinehart writes about don’t have careers. They get married and do social things. A full day for Marcia (even as an old maid) includes golfing, getting “waved” (took me forever to figure out this meant getting her hair styled), manicures, and maybe a dip in the pool. Or a trip out on a friend’s yacht. Also, no matter how independent, strong-willed and smart these women are, they often are overcome by the drama of murder investigations and faint. Then they stay in bed for a few days taking “bromides.” This type of 1930s culture is interesting, but can be irritating. Marcia, as the heroine, is lacking. She’s not all that bright, faints too much, and falls in love with some man she meets maybe five times. It’s clear he’s a mysterious fellow who could very well be a suspect, but she doesn’t see that. Duh. I was very tempted to skip to the big reveal by the local sheriff at the end of the book because I didn’t really care too much who had done the murders. The culprit was rather disappointing.
If you’re looking for an older, more genteel murder mystery, try a Mary Roberts Rinehart. The mysteries are usually fairly complex and some are downright brilliant. This one, unfortunately, is not.
*Note: I have a Dell 1938 first edition (paperback). The cover is different.
So far, all of the MRR mysteries I’ve ever read follow this pattern: members of a wealthy family in financial distress come to stay at their summer home out of necessity and someone connected to the family is murdered. The narrator is usually the youngest, an unmarried daughter in her twenties trying to keep the family home together on a shoe string budget (well, a budget that usually includes servants because these people never do their own cooking or cleaning). Often there is an adored older brother who has done something stupid involving a very beautiful, but selfish and unpleasant woman. This book is very similar to both The Swimming Pool and The Yellow Room. However, both of those books have better mysteries and the characters are way more interesting. In The Wall, twenty-nine year old Marcia Lloyd is opening up the family home, the Sunset House, for the season. Aside from various servants, she will be joined by her older brother, Arthur, and his second wife, Mary Lou, and their young son. Unfortunately for them, Arthur’s first (and greatly despised) wife, Juliette, also shows up. She is afraid of someone and desperate for money. Even though Arthur pays her $12,000 a year in alimony, she wants a lump sum of $100,000—and she’s not leaving the house until she gets it. Juliette has the kind of sexy, provocative beauty men fall for and many of the wealthy men (the “summer set”) have been involved with her. She is hated by the wives and despised by the locals, so when she turns up missing, no one is surprised. Lots of people wanted to kill her—particularly Arthur and a mysterious man identified only as “L.”
Because this book was written almost a century ago (!), some patience is required regarding it. Women of the kind that Rinehart writes about don’t have careers. They get married and do social things. A full day for Marcia (even as an old maid) includes golfing, getting “waved” (took me forever to figure out this meant getting her hair styled), manicures, and maybe a dip in the pool. Or a trip out on a friend’s yacht. Also, no matter how independent, strong-willed and smart these women are, they often are overcome by the drama of murder investigations and faint. Then they stay in bed for a few days taking “bromides.” This type of 1930s culture is interesting, but can be irritating. Marcia, as the heroine, is lacking. She’s not all that bright, faints too much, and falls in love with some man she meets maybe five times. It’s clear he’s a mysterious fellow who could very well be a suspect, but she doesn’t see that. Duh. I was very tempted to skip to the big reveal by the local sheriff at the end of the book because I didn’t really care too much who had done the murders. The culprit was rather disappointing.
If you’re looking for an older, more genteel murder mystery, try a Mary Roberts Rinehart. The mysteries are usually fairly complex and some are downright brilliant. This one, unfortunately, is not.
*Note: I have a Dell 1938 first edition (paperback). The cover is different.
February 1, 2021
4* The Circular Staircase
4* The Amazing Interlude
4* The Door
CR The Wall
TR The Case of Jennie Brice
TR The Breaking Point
TR Through Glacier Park In 1915
TR The Man in Lower Ten (Miss Cornelia Van Gorder, #1)
TR The Bat (Miss Cornelia Van Gorder, #3)
TR When a Man Marries
4* The Amazing Interlude
4* The Door
CR The Wall
TR The Case of Jennie Brice
TR The Breaking Point
TR Through Glacier Park In 1915
TR The Man in Lower Ten (Miss Cornelia Van Gorder, #1)
TR The Bat (Miss Cornelia Van Gorder, #3)
TR When a Man Marries
July 3, 2011
Sunset House is not a house of evil, it's actually the vacation beach home of Marcia Lloyd and her brother Author and his family, the last of a long line of wealthy New Yorkers. There is no horror hidden behind a wall, though there are a few dirty secrets hidden away. The pure hype of it though is why I couldn't pass on using it. It fits the era of when this book was published and it just has a way of grabbing your attention.
Much like The Swimming Pool, this book is narrated by one person after the detailed events have already passed. Marcia Lloyd, our narrator, is a young woman who has come out to open Sunset House for the summer season. Normally the season is full of house parties, rounds of gold, yachting, and gossip. The summer was already off to a odd start since all the servant's bells in the house would go off when nobody was in the room. When Juliette Ransom, Arthur's ex wife, shows up for an extended stay, all bets of a normal season go out the window.
It's clear from the start that Juliette is running from something. She's scared and nervous, not the way Marcia is used to her being like. When she demands that Arthur pay one last lump sum on her alimony instead of her regular payments, they know something is wrong. When the stalemate ends days later with Juliette missing, Marcia and Arthur are anything but joyed. When her body is found days later in a shallow grave, the fun is just about to begin. When two more bodies get added to the mix before the summer is up, this island community will never be the same again.
There are plenty of suspects to go around. Nobody liked the woman and most women would have gladly killed her for the way she went after their husbands. Arthur is the main suspect though it quickly comes to light that the local, married golf pro had a past relationship with the deceased. Even the young painter that Marcia has been coyly flirting with has a past with Juliette, one that involved vehicular manslaughter and prison time. The clues point in every direction and nobody but the sheriff and Marcia seemed to be concerned with finding the real killer. Most just want it all to go away before they are swept into the maelstrom.
I know I'm sounding like a broken record by now, but I'm so in love with Mary Roberts Rinehart. She is an expert with creating just the right atmosphere. She has an ability to make even the biggest place feel small and claustrophobic, trapping the characters in situations beyond their control. I don't think I'll ever get tired of praising or reading her work. I can't wait until I buy more.
Much like The Swimming Pool, this book is narrated by one person after the detailed events have already passed. Marcia Lloyd, our narrator, is a young woman who has come out to open Sunset House for the summer season. Normally the season is full of house parties, rounds of gold, yachting, and gossip. The summer was already off to a odd start since all the servant's bells in the house would go off when nobody was in the room. When Juliette Ransom, Arthur's ex wife, shows up for an extended stay, all bets of a normal season go out the window.
It's clear from the start that Juliette is running from something. She's scared and nervous, not the way Marcia is used to her being like. When she demands that Arthur pay one last lump sum on her alimony instead of her regular payments, they know something is wrong. When the stalemate ends days later with Juliette missing, Marcia and Arthur are anything but joyed. When her body is found days later in a shallow grave, the fun is just about to begin. When two more bodies get added to the mix before the summer is up, this island community will never be the same again.
There are plenty of suspects to go around. Nobody liked the woman and most women would have gladly killed her for the way she went after their husbands. Arthur is the main suspect though it quickly comes to light that the local, married golf pro had a past relationship with the deceased. Even the young painter that Marcia has been coyly flirting with has a past with Juliette, one that involved vehicular manslaughter and prison time. The clues point in every direction and nobody but the sheriff and Marcia seemed to be concerned with finding the real killer. Most just want it all to go away before they are swept into the maelstrom.
I know I'm sounding like a broken record by now, but I'm so in love with Mary Roberts Rinehart. She is an expert with creating just the right atmosphere. She has an ability to make even the biggest place feel small and claustrophobic, trapping the characters in situations beyond their control. I don't think I'll ever get tired of praising or reading her work. I can't wait until I buy more.
June 4, 2021
Picked up this book, as someone on twitter, tagged the author as "America's answer to Agatha Christie"
I had my doubts, so decided to pick one by the author.
The story revolves around estranged wife of Arthur Lloyd-Juliette, who comes to stay with Marcia(Arthur's sister) and wants an lump sum alimony from her husband so she could move out of the country.
The story takes unusual turn, followed by Juliette's murder and some more.
On investigation, it appears Juliette has been a crush for many men and she has been blackmailing few among, which made them possible suspect for murder.
The plot takes you through many twists and turns, and it is really difficult to guess the murderer.
-Loved the writing.
-Loved the book.
-Will love to read another book by the author.
-But was unnecessarily lengthy.
Agatha Christie - No ways. (She would've packed this in half the pages and still made a nail biting mystery).
Goodreads.
I had my doubts, so decided to pick one by the author.
The story revolves around estranged wife of Arthur Lloyd-Juliette, who comes to stay with Marcia(Arthur's sister) and wants an lump sum alimony from her husband so she could move out of the country.
The story takes unusual turn, followed by Juliette's murder and some more.
On investigation, it appears Juliette has been a crush for many men and she has been blackmailing few among, which made them possible suspect for murder.
The plot takes you through many twists and turns, and it is really difficult to guess the murderer.
-Loved the writing.
-Loved the book.
-Will love to read another book by the author.
-But was unnecessarily lengthy.
Agatha Christie - No ways. (She would've packed this in half the pages and still made a nail biting mystery).
Goodreads.
December 7, 2021
A highly atmospheric mystery, perhaps the best I've read from MRR thus far. We are brought to a fictional New England island, ala Newport, frequented by the ideal rich, who seemingly have nothing better to do than golf, play tennis, attend dinner parties, and go for moonlit cruises on their yachts. But despite our protagonist crying a poverty that most of us would easily trade in our circumstances to enjoy, she is a relatable and likeable character. People start dropping like flies, and suspicion falls on just about everyone at one point or another in the story. Partnering with the local sheriff, who thankfully is not a drooling idiot as many police are portrayed in these types of stories, they attempt to get to the bottom of who is committing these murders. The ending does leave a bit to be desired, but overall it is an excellent mystery.
August 18, 2019
As usual, Mary Roberts Rinehart’s The Wall proves equal parts suspenseful mystery and sly social satire. Although first published in 1938, today’s readers will thoroughly enjoy it.
Arthur Lloyd has suffered a lot. He married “a cheap girl” who now goes by Juliette Ransom; when she divorced him, she took him to the cleaners, and the hefty alimony payments make his life with new wife Mary Lou and their 5-year-old son Junior very circumscribed, indeed. So when Juliette leaves New York to impose on Arthur’s 28-year-old little sister Marcia Lloyd and is murdered soon after, suspicion immediately falls on Arthur.
Rinehart litters The Wall with lots of twists and surprises, and I never, ever suspected the true culprit. Another wonderful Rinehart novel!
Arthur Lloyd has suffered a lot. He married “a cheap girl” who now goes by Juliette Ransom; when she divorced him, she took him to the cleaners, and the hefty alimony payments make his life with new wife Mary Lou and their 5-year-old son Junior very circumscribed, indeed. So when Juliette leaves New York to impose on Arthur’s 28-year-old little sister Marcia Lloyd and is murdered soon after, suspicion immediately falls on Arthur.
Rinehart litters The Wall with lots of twists and surprises, and I never, ever suspected the true culprit. Another wonderful Rinehart novel!
April 28, 2020
Mary Roberts Rinehart wrote in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Her characters are in the moneyed class, or "newly poor". It's like looking through a window, seeing how the author and her characters thought and acted back then, plus her mysteries are cleverly crafted. I'm enjoyed rereading my collection of her books, as my public library is still closed by Covid 19, and I've returned to my own bookshelves for entertainment and solace.
June 2, 2024
A fun and atmospheric mystery, set in the 1930s in a New England summer colony on an island. There were a LOT of characters to keep track of, lots of clues (and foreshadowing about clues...), and plenty of suspects and motivations. I would definitely pick up another by Rinehart!
Read
February 9, 2018This is a very cleverly written detective story. It is very well described and the actual criminal is so little mentioned and so well covered up that it would take more than an ordinary detective to discover the actual murderer. The characters are beautifully described and especially that of the hero, Allen Langdon Page. I liked him the best. In each chapter, there was always a clue, or a little incident mentioned that gave a kind of mystery to the whole book leaving you in such a suspense that at the end, you're about ready to burst with excitement. It is on the whole a simply grand book, well worth the reading.
This review is by my grandmother, from her "Books I Have Read" diary, started in 1938. It is the fourth book reviewed, page 4.
Additional details
Publisher: Farrar and Rhinehart
Borrowed from: Putnam's Lending Library
This review is by my grandmother, from her "Books I Have Read" diary, started in 1938. It is the fourth book reviewed, page 4.
Additional details
Publisher: Farrar and Rhinehart
Borrowed from: Putnam's Lending Library
July 24, 2022
Fantastic whodunnit set in New England. Despite being set in the 30s this has a a very modern feel. Great story, kept me guessing and very atmospherically written.
July 11, 2023
I felt like a middle aged mom when I read this on the beach last year, but it was too good of a mystery for me to put down 😋🍷
December 6, 2019
This story reminded me of a 1930's film noir with stars like Joan Crawford or Gary Cooper!
It was so old-fashioned, centered around the life of the wealthy and priviledged, the ladies
easily fainting with stress, and maids still tucking you into bed at night when you're all grown up!
But the plot was so involved, yet well presented, it absolutely mesmerized me, I had to find out how it all came together and who it was that actually committed the murders. No, I didn't guess, and you won't either, but admittedly the one clue that might put the reader on to the possibility isn't revealed until the end.
The sheriff is such a likeable character. He's down to earth but extremely clever and tenacious. I could almost believe a law enforcement officer who never had to solve crimes of this magnitude before managed to find all the pieces and put them together.
The victim of the 1st murder is so self-centered and unfeeling, using all of her allure and good looks to ruin or at least walk over the countless men who are drawn into her web, that you can't be too sad she finally reaped what was sowing.
That our heroine felt any compassion for her at all is amazing.
Rinehart provided me with a very enjoyable whodunit read.
It was so old-fashioned, centered around the life of the wealthy and priviledged, the ladies
easily fainting with stress, and maids still tucking you into bed at night when you're all grown up!
But the plot was so involved, yet well presented, it absolutely mesmerized me, I had to find out how it all came together and who it was that actually committed the murders. No, I didn't guess, and you won't either, but admittedly the one clue that might put the reader on to the possibility isn't revealed until the end.
The sheriff is such a likeable character. He's down to earth but extremely clever and tenacious. I could almost believe a law enforcement officer who never had to solve crimes of this magnitude before managed to find all the pieces and put them together.
The victim of the 1st murder is so self-centered and unfeeling, using all of her allure and good looks to ruin or at least walk over the countless men who are drawn into her web, that you can't be too sad she finally reaped what was sowing.
That our heroine felt any compassion for her at all is amazing.
Rinehart provided me with a very enjoyable whodunit read.
June 28, 2020
Oh my, the bodies were piling up in this one. The setting is a wealthy summer vacation spot, so it's a fun summer read. Loved the idea of the big old rambling summer home, with access to the beach, yachts, golf, and endless summer parties and dances being the backdrop to this murder mystery. Published in 1938, the depression has touched even the wealthy, (though not too badly as they still live in a mansion and have plenty of servants.) The heroine is brave, the dowager grande dame is feisty, the older brother is beloved, but not too successful, the sheriff has a heart of gold and constantly says "by the great horn spoon," and the mysterious stranger is well ... mysterious.
It is a bit dated, but nevertheless rather entertaining. If you have to have the latest book and want to gush over the fact the author has made the hero terribly unlikable and drastically flawed, this is not the book for you, but if you want a straight-forward murder mystery then this should suit you.
It is a bit dated, but nevertheless rather entertaining. If you have to have the latest book and want to gush over the fact the author has made the hero terribly unlikable and drastically flawed, this is not the book for you, but if you want a straight-forward murder mystery then this should suit you.
July 6, 2023
The Wall is set in a New England oceanside community, though it might make some feel of Cornwall as a modernized Gothic mystery (for 1938) with something of the unreal, other-worldly atmosphere of Daphne du Maurier. This is a story "dealing with people rather than clues." A mystery with more emotion than "little grey cells." A mystery with feelings, and with a love story added for extra drama. The ending is convoluted with extensive and implausible actions by a number of people. Even less plausible given what the author established earlier in the book. But The Wall is intended to place the reader in another time for an extended stay, not as a quick action read. The Wall is slow and reflective, to be savored at leisure, to be anticipated as an escape at the end of a hard day. Not the roller coaster ride of a murder-a-minute thriller. At 400 pages it's long, and I'm not as patient as a turtle, but I liked it. [4★]
December 31, 2021
I've never before been able to finish a MRR book. Even though I've loved the idea of them--the spooky houses, noises at night, secret passages--I've got tangled up in the had-I-but-known phrasing until I no longer cared. This is a later book, and though it still has far too many people telling the detective far too little (had they but known!), it has a solid narrator and detective, lots of clues and suspects, a spooky old house, a hidden secret (or five), mysterious bells, and a gorgeous summer resort setting not too far removed from the Cape Cod of Asey Mayo. Not as much humor in this as in the Asey Mayo mysteries, but enough suspense to keep you turning pages. Plus, seals in the water!
Not solvable, by the way--this is not a fair-play detective story. Rinehart is much more like Wilkie Collins than like Agatha Christie. And everyone smokes, a lot!!!
Not solvable, by the way--this is not a fair-play detective story. Rinehart is much more like Wilkie Collins than like Agatha Christie. And everyone smokes, a lot!!!
July 14, 2024
shoutout Mary Roberts Rinehart for at one point causing me to say “literally everyone did it.”
January 11, 2025
I was on about page 50 and something of 600 pages and something and just couldn’t handle it anymore. Just because I had to rate I will give 1*. I just gave up.
May 9, 2025
I am a longtime lover of Golden Age mystery, but I’ve only read a couple of Mary Roberts Reinhart’s books prior to this. My daughter bought me this as a gift and it was simply everything I would want it to be. I loved it!
September 12, 2025
This was the first book I’ve read from this author (Mary Roberts Reinhart) - and I’m so glad I read it. It was a great murder/mystery book - with more than one murder in fact! There were a number of plots, characters and potential suspects - and it had a surprise finish. A really great read!
May 29, 2025
Mostly fun for the 1930s rich people-on-"hard"-times setting, kind of fun as a mystery, I agree with B.D. McClay's review that it's solid as a "guest room book"
September 17, 2021
I was unfamiliar with Mary Roberts Rinehart. The entry in wikipedia says that she was "often called the American Agatha Christie" and that "During her prime, Rinehart was said to be even more famous than her rival, the great Agatha Christie. At the time of Rinehart's death, her books had sold over 10 million copies" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ro....
The Wall is one of the best written mysteries I've read in a while. The first person narrator, Marcia Lloyd, who is writing of past events, is one of the best developed characters I've encountered. She's charming, believable, an interesting story-teller, and seemingly a reliable narrator who the reader grows to like. Like any good mystery narrator, she has an informer in the police department, in this instance Sheriff Russell Shand, who does the actual detective work while cautioning Marcia not to get involved. Shand is well drawn and quite likeable and quite believable.
The plot line is well developed and engaging. The ex-wife of Marcia's brother, Arthur, comes unannounced to Marcia's family mansion, near, I presume, Clinton, Connecticut, with the purpose of cutting a deal with Arthur for a lump sum payment of the alimony so she can leave the country. The ex, Juliette, is murdered. As expected, Arthur is one of the suspects, but there are several suspects, all with good reasons for murdering the unlikable Juliette. The District Attorney is facing reelection, so he's hot to build a case. The detectives from New York seem in the way more than they help. Shand holds them off while doing some astute detective work, with, of course, some help from Marcia.
The cast of characters are well drawn, even the secondary ones, much better than in most detective novels. It's an engaging and entertaining mystery.
The Wall is one of the best written mysteries I've read in a while. The first person narrator, Marcia Lloyd, who is writing of past events, is one of the best developed characters I've encountered. She's charming, believable, an interesting story-teller, and seemingly a reliable narrator who the reader grows to like. Like any good mystery narrator, she has an informer in the police department, in this instance Sheriff Russell Shand, who does the actual detective work while cautioning Marcia not to get involved. Shand is well drawn and quite likeable and quite believable.
The plot line is well developed and engaging. The ex-wife of Marcia's brother, Arthur, comes unannounced to Marcia's family mansion, near, I presume, Clinton, Connecticut, with the purpose of cutting a deal with Arthur for a lump sum payment of the alimony so she can leave the country. The ex, Juliette, is murdered. As expected, Arthur is one of the suspects, but there are several suspects, all with good reasons for murdering the unlikable Juliette. The District Attorney is facing reelection, so he's hot to build a case. The detectives from New York seem in the way more than they help. Shand holds them off while doing some astute detective work, with, of course, some help from Marcia.
The cast of characters are well drawn, even the secondary ones, much better than in most detective novels. It's an engaging and entertaining mystery.
September 10, 2021
I both liked and hated this book.
What I liked: it is compulsively readable. Unlike other vintage mysteries that I've read of late, it is an actual story, with actual characters (albeit unbelievable), and the mystery itself was decent, if completely implausible. So many books from this era are puzzles with bare clues and cardboard characters, so it was refreshing to actually read a novel.
What I hated: The narrator, Marcia Lloyd, got on my last damn nerve. She's whiny, obstinate, snobby, has way too many TSTL moments to be considered a "heroine," and a blind spot for one of the suspects that's as big as the goddamned sun. The man is in fact an accessory after the fact to every single crime committed, but she still ends up marrying him because obviously he's a good and decent person at heart. Give me a break.
This story would've been much better if it had been told from an omni third person POV. Filtering it through rich bitch Marcia made the entire thing 1000% more annoying. I did not care about her opinions on anything, especially considering how weak and wishy-washy she was (not to mention being 1000% convinced of her beloved confessed killer's innocence the entire time).
The conclusion of the mystery itself was way too implausible to actually be real. Nobody acts that selflessly when it comes to someone as evil as Juliette Ransom. Why were so many people covering up her crimes and taking the fall for the shit she pulled? It boggles the mind.
I enjoyed this author's prose and narrative structure, and there's another of her novels that I want to read, but all in all, this was a frustrating experience. I'm glad I picked this up from the library.
What I liked: it is compulsively readable. Unlike other vintage mysteries that I've read of late, it is an actual story, with actual characters (albeit unbelievable), and the mystery itself was decent, if completely implausible. So many books from this era are puzzles with bare clues and cardboard characters, so it was refreshing to actually read a novel.
What I hated: The narrator, Marcia Lloyd, got on my last damn nerve. She's whiny, obstinate, snobby, has way too many TSTL moments to be considered a "heroine," and a blind spot for one of the suspects that's as big as the goddamned sun. The man is in fact an accessory after the fact to every single crime committed, but she still ends up marrying him because obviously he's a good and decent person at heart. Give me a break.
This story would've been much better if it had been told from an omni third person POV. Filtering it through rich bitch Marcia made the entire thing 1000% more annoying. I did not care about her opinions on anything, especially considering how weak and wishy-washy she was (not to mention being 1000% convinced of her beloved confessed killer's innocence the entire time).
The conclusion of the mystery itself was way too implausible to actually be real. Nobody acts that selflessly when it comes to someone as evil as Juliette Ransom. Why were so many people covering up her crimes and taking the fall for the shit she pulled? It boggles the mind.
I enjoyed this author's prose and narrative structure, and there's another of her novels that I want to read, but all in all, this was a frustrating experience. I'm glad I picked this up from the library.
July 9, 2021
Thoroughly enjoyable. Could it be shorter? Yes, but that's only because we are comparing it with novels of today. Can the "if I had only known" style be annoying and off-putting. Yes, it's frustrating at times.
But those small complaints aside, this was a fun novel set in a different time and dealing with the upper class who "summer" in their mansions on the east coast.
Our narrator is Marcia Lloyd, a single woman who spends her summers at Sunset House, built by her grandfather, along with her brother Arthur and his family. But this time we get an unexpected visitor in Arthur's ex-wife Juliette, who shows up with her maid and forces her way into the household. Juliette is obviously afraid of something/someone, and is hiding out and trying to get some money to escape from the country. When she ends up murdered, it seems that no one really regrets her death, and many are relieved that their secrets will now be safe.
Marcia and sheriff Russell Shand start their separate investigations, probing into the simmering hatreds, passions, secrets beneath the thin veneer of upper-class society. Two more murders occur before the summer comes to an end and the culprit is identified.
This is my favorite of the Rinehart books I have read so far, a great view into the Great Depression and how people really haven't changed all that much in the years since.
But those small complaints aside, this was a fun novel set in a different time and dealing with the upper class who "summer" in their mansions on the east coast.
Our narrator is Marcia Lloyd, a single woman who spends her summers at Sunset House, built by her grandfather, along with her brother Arthur and his family. But this time we get an unexpected visitor in Arthur's ex-wife Juliette, who shows up with her maid and forces her way into the household. Juliette is obviously afraid of something/someone, and is hiding out and trying to get some money to escape from the country. When she ends up murdered, it seems that no one really regrets her death, and many are relieved that their secrets will now be safe.
Marcia and sheriff Russell Shand start their separate investigations, probing into the simmering hatreds, passions, secrets beneath the thin veneer of upper-class society. Two more murders occur before the summer comes to an end and the culprit is identified.
This is my favorite of the Rinehart books I have read so far, a great view into the Great Depression and how people really haven't changed all that much in the years since.
July 26, 2021
This is the second mystery I've read by Rinehart, part of the Otto Penzler Presents American Mystery Classics series. I enjoy a picture of the past and this mystery was definitely very twisty, but it was perhaps a bit overlong and the heroine a bit too fragile for my taste. It takes place on a vacation summer estate, filled with old guard money as well as tourists. I think the real hero of the book is Sheriff Shand who was like a dog with a bone and butting heads with the prosecutor. It takes three murders before the case is finally solved, and it completely surprised me. Interesting personal side note for me: Rinehart was born in Pittsburgh, where I lived for five years.
June 19, 2023
This mystery, written by an author who is sometimes considered "America's Agatha Christie" was published in 1938, before the "had-I-but-known" technique became a subject of ridicule. In defense of this otherwise interesting book, I felt that Rinehart justified the foreshadowing effect since the book was represented as the main character, Marcia's, written record of the events, written, by her, after the murders were solved.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews