About Mary Roberts Rinehart
Mary Roberts Rinehart was an American writer, often called the American Agatha Christie. Rinehart published her first mystery novel, The Circular Staircase, in 1908, which introduced the "had I but known" narrative style. Rinehart is also considered the earliest known source of the phrase "the butler did it", in her novel The Door (1930), although the exact phrase does not appear in her work and the plot device had been used prior to that time. She also worked to tell the stories and experiences of front line soldiers during World War I, one of the first women to travel to the Belgian front lines.
![“[On fishing:] Greatest rest in the world for the brain.” quote by Mary Roberts Rinehart](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/606/mary-roberts-rinehart-4636_brain_on-fishing-greatest-rest-in-the-world-fo_330375.jpg)
![“Every crucial experience can be regarded as a setback - or a start of a new kind of development. [You have the responsibility to decide if you will see it as a bad setback or good start!]” quote by Mary Roberts Rinehart](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/a75/mary-roberts-rinehart-4636_crucial_every-crucial-experience-can-be-regarded_2492128.jpg)
![“[The writer] wants both to do the best possible work and also to reach the largest possible audience. The result is a fairly normal condition of discouragement.” quote by Mary Roberts Rinehart](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/90f/mary-roberts-rinehart-4636_audience_the-writer-wants-both-to-do-the-best-pos_1638018.jpg)
![“[When working on a book] I have an almost complete detachment from the world I live in, a sort of armor against distraction. I talk to people, move about, appear on the surface much as usual. But later on I have only a confused memory of what has happened during that period.” quote by Mary Roberts Rinehart](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/2c2/mary-roberts-rinehart-4636_armor_when-working-on-a-book-i-have-an-almost_2129087.jpg)
![“[I]t is really the ponderous books which I envy. How easy merely to put down everything you think or imagine. No holding back, no telling oneself that this does not belong, or that. No hewing to the line. No cutting. No fear of letting the interest die. No wastebasket. How wonderful. And how dull!” quote by Mary Roberts Rinehart](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/f06/mary-roberts-rinehart-4636_books_i-t-is-really-the-ponderous-books-which_2801077.jpg)
![“However, I was not long to rest in piece[sic], for in a few days I received a letter from Carter Brooks, as follows: DEAR BARBARA: It was sweet of you to write me so promptly, although I confess to being rather astonished as well as delighted at being called "Dearest." The signature too was…” quote by Mary Roberts Rinehart](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/fa0/mary-roberts-rinehart-4636_letter_however-i-was-not-long-to-rest-in-piece_3091103.jpg)
