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    The Man in Lower Ten
    The Man in Lower Ten
    The Man in Lower Ten
    Audiobook6 hours

    The Man in Lower Ten

    Written by Mary Roberts Rinehart

    Narrated by Rebecca Burns

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Mary Roberts Rinehart has often been called the mistress of mystery. In fact, the phrase "The butler did it" originated in one of her books. In 1905 Rinehart entered a field exclusive to men: detective fiction. Now, nearly a century after she began her ground-breaking career, her celebrated thrillers still remain un-put-down-able masterpieces.



    Rinehart's The Man in Lower Ten, the first American detective novel to make the bestseller list, follows the investigation of the murder of a man in a sleeping car on a train. In this fast-paced thriller, the investigating detective builds up a network of clues that absolutely incriminate three entirely different people—only one of whom can be guilty.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateOct 6, 2008
    ISBN9781400178001
    Author

    Mary Roberts Rinehart

    Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958) was one of the United States’s most popular early mystery authors. Born in Pittsburgh to a clerk at a sewing machine agency, Rinehart trained as a nurse and married a doctor after her graduation from nursing school. She wrote fiction in her spare time until a stock market crash sent her and her young husband into debt, forcing her to lean on her writing to pay the bills. Her first two novels, The Circular Staircase (1908) and The Man in Lower Ten (1909), established her as a bright young talent, and it wasn’t long before she was one of the nation’s most popular mystery novelists. Among her dozens of novels are The Amazing Adventures of Letitia Carberry (1911), which began a six-book series, and The Bat (originally published in 1920 as a play), which was among the inspirations for Bob Kane’s Batman. Credited with inventing the phrase “The butler did it,” Rinehart is often called an American Agatha Christie, even though she began writing much earlier than Christie, and was much more popular during her heyday. 

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    Reviews for The Man in Lower Ten

    3.5/5

    79 ratings7 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The Man in Lower Ten was Mrs. Mary Roberts Rinehart's first mystery novel, written at the request of her magazine editor for something long enough to be serialized. (She'd been writing short stories for the same reason as Louisa May Alcott: to help support her family. Her husband lost a lot of money in a stock market crash. The editorial request was made in 1905, so it was probably the crash of 1901.)
    • 4/5
      My first impression as I started reading "The Man in Lower Ten" was that this novel would provide the same type of intrigue and characterizations as an Agatha Christie mystery. What a surprise to discover on a quick search of Wikipedia as follows: "Mary Roberts Rinehart (August 12, 1876 – September 22, 1958) was an American writer, often called the American Agatha Christie, although her first mystery novel was published 14 years before Christie's first novel in 1920." As I read on the Wikisource website, "The Man in the Lower Ten" was "the first detective novel to appear on national bestseller lists." Now it's of interest to wonder if "The Man in Lower Ten" (first published 1909) gave any inspiration to Agatha Christie for "Murder on the Orient Express" (first published 1934).

      I look forward to reading more titles by Mary Roberts Rinehart.
    • 4/5
      Not as good as some of MRR. The main character was very engaging, but the plot was a little weak and hard to follow at times. But I did love Blakeley and that is worth an extra half star!
    • 4/5
      Old-fashioned murder-on-a-train mystery.
    • 4/5
      Now I understand why Rinehart is considered to be the American Agatha Christie, or should it be that Agatha Christie is the British Mary Roberts Rinehart, given that Rinehart’s first novel – this one – was published some 14 years before Christie’s first book? Either way, this story has all the wonderful atmospheric feel I have come to love in Golden era mystery novels. For a debut novel, Rinehart does a wonderful job drawing her characters and a twisty plot. The story provides for some good suspenseful moments and I did enjoy the banter Lawrence and his partner/good friend McKnight engage in. Even with a murder and unscrupulous people who think Lawrence still has the documents in his possession, the characters comes across as treating this as a low key concern…. Life and death situations seem to still involve taking time off for a good drink, a bite to eat and a bit of tongue-in-cheek dialogue. Favorite character for me is the amateur sleuth Hotchkiss who just pops up everywhere. Hotchkiss employs the detailed investigation techniques characterized by Sherlock Holmes but with the demeanor of a quiet, bookish accountant. Love Lawrence’s reaction to Hotchkiss’ note-taking and question asking: ”I nodded tolerantly. Most of us have hobbies.”. There is even a romantic sub-plot with one of the potential suspects – who just happens to also be McKnight’s current love interest. This came across as a bit of added fluff and distraction to Lawrence’s “search for the killer” focus, but a distraction that did not cause any annoyance for this reader.

      Overall, a delightful golden age mystery read and I will now keep an eye out for more Mary Robert Rinehart books to read.
    • 3/5
      This was kind of an odd one. I love Mary Roberts Rinehart – but this one was not quite up to where I expected it to be. Unfortunately it's one of those books where the unsolved mystery is more interesting than the solution. It's a great setup – rather dull lawyer fellow (with vivid best friend – I liked that the kind of boring one was the narrator) goes off to get some very important papers for a very important case, and on the train ride home has them stolen. And also comes in as the best suspect for a murder in his Pullman car. Luckily for him, the train suffers a horrific accident, so he has the chance to avoid immediate investigation, and also to fall in love – with his best friend's girl.

      The writing is entertaining; characterization works, and all the red herrings and wrong suspects that litter the landscape make for a good yarn. Everything eventually pulls together and gets cleared up – and I admit to disappointment at the wrap-up. Sometimes the journey is just more fun than the destination.

      One warning: this is very much of its time. In a couple of ways, actually – it startled me when the narrator talks about choosing a hansom cab; the involvement of the train made me think for some reason that it was a Golden Age book, from the forties or so. Then there's the line "Pittsburg without smoke wouldn't be Pittsburg, any more than New York without prohibition would be New York." So – Pittsburgh used to be spelled without the "H", and it's during Prohibition. Check.

      But just in case you go into this thinking it's just a very well-written historical mystery that uses some great details to let you know when it's set – well, reality will hit you like the Ice Bucket Challenge when words are used to refer to non-white races that would probably not be used today, even by the most dedicated anti-anachronistic writer. Yeah. It was first published in 1909. Things were different then. It can be (to use a period-appropriate adjective) delightful – but it can be cringe-worthy as well. Which was also the case with a few remarks about women, too, which – come now, Ms. Rinehart.

      The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.
    • 4/5
      The story is a fun one, very much of its time. Should appeal to fans of Agatha Christie as it reads a bit like some of her lesser works.

      The author was popular in her day although mostly forgotten today. This book was her first big hit.

      It contains murder, forgery, train wrecks, mysterious "hauntings", romance, and an amusing first person narrative.

      The edition I was reading (Barnes and Noble Library of Essential Readings) is probably an OCR'd text and contains several text errors which are a bit distracting. I'd probably have enjoyed this more in a vintage copy or a better edited one.

      Has some nice details of life (and train travel) in the time period, which is something I enjoy reading about.

      As a train fan, I particularly was interested in it and enjoyed those details.