I've got a surplus of Bookmooch points, so I've been wandering about a bit looking for books I'd like to mooch that I'd like to read. There was a time I would have avoided buying any book that wasn't new, but now I sort of like the "charm" of these older books with their pulp-fiction-y covers. Although the Eberhart book was published in the 80s (the cover with the disembodied hand!), the mass market Rinehart book was originally released in 1913, but this edition came out in the 80s as well. It's always so interesting when a book was published ages ago, but is rejacketed to fit the contemporary mood. The Rinehart is sort of creepy, but in such a cheesy way!
Mary Roberts Rinehart and Mignon Eberhart were (roughly speaking) contemporaries. Both were American (Mignon was from Nebraska, which makes me think I really do need to read her), and both had a prodigious number of books published during their lifetimes. Rinehart was the first woman war correspondent on the Belgian front during WWI. Her novel, The Circular Staircase (which I am trying to get my hands on), was published in 1908 and sold a million and a quarter copies. She often wrote for the Saturday Evening Post which helped "mold the American middle class taste and manners" (per the Wikipedia).
Eberhart was the leading crime novelist in the US by the end of the 1930s. According to the Wikipedia, next to Agatha Christie she was one of the highest paid crime novelists of the period. She was also one of the founders of the romantic suspense novel and apparently unusual for the time, her novels featured female sleuths. A year after Eberhart's first novel came out, Agatha Christie introduced Miss Marple.
Both authors interest me, and while I'm looking forward to the books because they're mysteries, what I really want to know is whether the books give a sense of the period they're written in. The Eberhart is from the 1980s, but I own books by her that were published much earlier. I know sometimes readers might not like a book because it doesn't "wear well"--meaning it feels very dated, but sometimes I actually like the sense that I've totally immersed myself in an entirely different era. All the stories are fairly short, so hopefully they'll be quick reads when I do finally get to them. My mooches:
Mignon C. Eberhart's The Patient in Cabin C -- "The trip aboard the Felice began as a pleasure cruise. Attractive young Sue Gates was certain that the yacht's owner Monty Montgomery intended to announce their engagement. Then terror seized the ship. Monty almost lost his life when he was pushed overboard, the yacht's steward was mysteriously killed, and the ship's engines stopped dead. The passenger list included both lovers and enemies: icily beautiful Celia Hadley...naval officer Stan Brooke...bedridden millionaire Sam Wiley...and Monty's sultry half-sister Lalice. But their intrigues soon gave way to a nightmare of death--for now Sue, Monty, and the others were at the mercy of a murderer as cold as the shrouded sea they sailed..."
Sorry I had to share the whole blurb. Even it is a little on the cheesy (if not melodramatic side). And just what is a bedridden millionaire doing yachting anyway? And I failed to mention above the book description the heading "Voyage to Nowhere...".
Mary Roberts Rinehart's The Case of Jennie Brice -- This is set in a boarding house. There's a blood-stained rope and towel, a stray slipper and a broken knife. But no body. If there's no body, the police won't get involved. Mrs. Pittman, the landlady, is probably going to get herself in some trouble over this one.
Mary Roberts Rinehart's The Bat, The Haunted Lady, and The Yellow Room -- This is an omnibus edition with three complete novels. The last title seems the most promising. A young woman travels from her family's Park Avenue Apartment and travels to their summer home in Maine only to discover the servants have vanished, the phones have been removed and a corpse in the closet!
And since I'm talking about mysteries here, I just found out yesterday that the Wallander series starring Kenneth Branagh is going to begin airing on PBS tonight. I'm hoping to be able to actually watch it (rather than waiting for DVD). It was filmed in Sweden, and while I've not yet read any of Henning Mankell's books, this will surely make me want to go and grab the first one and start reading!