While many of her books were best sellers, critics were most appreciative of her murder mysteries. Rinehart, in The Circular Staircase, is credited with inventing the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing. In The Circular Staircase "a middle-aged spinster is persuaded by her niece and nephew to rent a country house for the summer. The house they chose belonged to a bank defaulter who had hidden stolen securities in the walls. The gentle, peace-loving trio is plunged into a series of crimes solved with the help of the aunt." The Had-I-But-Known mystery novel is one where the principal character (frequently female) does things in connection with a crime that have the effect of prolonging the action of the novel. Ogden Nash parodied the school in his poem Don't Guess Let Me Tell You: "Sometimes the Had I But Known then what I know now I could have saved at least three lives by revealing to the Inspector the conversation I heard through that fortuitous hole in the floor."
- ISBN10 1470949911
- ISBN13 9781470949914
- Publish Date 11 November 2011 (first published 1 January 2001)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 23 January 2013
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Lulu.com
- Format eBook (OEB)
- Language English