The Window at the White Cat

By Mary Roberts Rinehart

Book Overview

"In my criminal work, everything that wears skirts is a lady, until the law proves her otherwise," declares Jack Knox, attorney at law and narrator of this sprightly mystery. Jack's cautiously chivalrous observation is prompted by the beauty and distress of his newest client, Margery Flemming. It seems that Margery's father, a crooked politician, has been missing for over a week. Unwilling to involve the police in her father's corrupt activities, the comely young woman has selected a random lawyer for consultation--a counselor who falls in love with her at first sight and determines to prove his worth.
Jack's pursuit of the vanished politician leads to an investigation of a notorious social club known as the White Cat. While Jack bumbles his way along a trail of clues (he's comically clumsy as well as inexperienced at locating missing persons), Margery takes refuge with her elderly aunts, one of whom suddenly disappears, leaving behind only a bloody handprint. Can Jack locate Margery's missing relatives and win her affections from her increasingly suspicious-looking fianc ?
Mary Roberts Rinehart, "the American Agatha Christie," published this entertaining romp in 1910. Loaded with period charm, the briskly paced mystery combines political thrills, humor, and romance.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 048681923X
• ISBN13: 9780486819235
• Release Date: September 2017
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Terrific mystery from a master of the genre.

For decades Mary Roberts Rinehart was the queen of mystery thrillers -- the American Agatha Christie. Rinehart's special gift was in the evocation of an overlying and unremitting atmosphere of unease and potential danger and it is under such an atmosphere of apprehension that she spins her stories. The Window at the White Cat was the first Rinehart mystery I read (The Circular Staircase was her first published novel) and I liked it so much that I began to read virtually all of her mystery novels -- many of them more than once. The White Cat in the title is the name of a seedy political hangout in which a killing occurs and the story is a mixture of political shenanigans, romance -- and, above all -- mystery and suspense. The Window at the White Cat is a terrific mystery novel and a very good introduction to the mystery novels of a master of the genre.