Mary Roberts Rhinehart, the American Agatha Christie (or you can consider Agatha Christie to be the English Mary Roberts Rhinehart, however you prefer) writes similarly to her English counterpart, by means of cozy mysteries and minimal actual violence and gore.
The Bat is about a robber villain who strikes terror in the heart of a country village and Miss Cornelia van Gorner, a shrewd older woman, isn't having any of it. The book takes place in her house, along with several friends (and enemies), and maybe a gun or two. Overall, the story reads more like a play, with multiple complex scenes happening at once and minimal scene changes. Suspenseful story, with minor twists and turns but in the end, nothing too extravagant.

This is pretty similar to Rinehart's "The Circular Staircase" in many, many ways. Still enjoyable, but not exactly a thrill. More interesting did I find the book from a sociological/cultural standpoint, since it was the basis for a lot of old performance and purportedly one of Bob Kane's inspirations in creating the character of Batman. And, in the initial descriptions of The Bat, you can totally see it.

 "Had I but known" this as an adaptation of The Circular Staircase, i would have never read it.
Aigoo.
But at least now i know that this is the inspiration of Batman.

In Mary Roberts Rinehart's The Bat, Cornelia Van Gorder, a spinster who has longed for adventure, takes herself, her Irish maid Lizzie, and her neice Dale off to the country to escape the city's summer heat. She rents a country home that has recently become available when Courtleigh Fleming, a local bank manager, died. She's bemoaning her quiet, unadventurous existence when suddenly the countryside becomes the center for some very mysterious activity.

Cornelia begins receiving anonymous notes meant to frighten her away from the house. There are rumors that The Bat, a notorious criminal mastermind, is in the area. And...in the wake of the bank manager's death, it is discovered that a large amount of bank funds are missing--as well as one of the bank clerks. Cornelia's neice begins acting strangely, her maid Lizzie is nervous as a cat, and her butler Billy is inscrutable (as all Chinese men of the time are represented). Dale brings home a new gardener who isn't what he seems and Cornelia decides to request that a detective be sent to help her get to the bottom of the nasty notes. Who on earth could possibly care if she spends her summer in the banker's abandoned house?

That's when the excitement begins. There are mysterious people popping in and out of rooms. Strangers on the roof and bats flying through the rooms. The detective seems ready to round up and use the rubber hose on anyone who even looks at him cross-eyed. Billy the butler scurries around seeing ghosts and Lizzie is screaming at the drop of a hat. Before long, the banker's nephew is dead, a secret room is discovered, and the missing money is found. Cornelia gets her adventure....and even gets the satisfaction of outwitting The Bat.

Great fun. This book (which is based on the play The Bat, which in turn was based on Rinehart's The Circular Staircase) reads like a serial story. Just about every chapter ends in a cliff-hanger moment and there is more action going on in this old house than you'd believe. Four stars.

{This review is mine and was first posted on my blog at http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2012/04/bat-review.html. Please request permission to repost any portion. Thanks.}

*I received this galley from the publisher Open Road Media* through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Master criminals. Dead bats as calling cards. A young couple in distress. The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart has it all and then some.

Courtleigh Fleming has recently passed away, shortly before his bank closes its doors after money and a cashier go missing. Mr. Fleming's nephew rents out his uncle's country house to Cornelia Van Gorder. But The Bat, a master criminal who continually defies the best detectives, is said to be in the area. After Miss Van Gorder receives several threatening, anonymous notes, she is sure the Bat is closing in. But Cornelia Van Gorder isn't one to back down, and with her maid Lizzie, her niece Dale, the Japanese butler Billy and the various other guests in the house, she is determined to uncover the Bat's true identity and the connection to the Fleming estate.

A novel based on a play (The Bat) based on a novel (The Circular Staircase), The Bat is a perfectly fun romp. As Ryan says in his great review over at Wordsmithsonia, there is definitely a bit of Noises Off or Arsenic and Old Lace hilarity in this mystery, as mysteriously locked and unlocked doors as well as inconvenient power outages assist the constant confusion among characters. Though I did figure out the villain prior to the last pages, I thought the denouement ingeniously done and thoroughly enjoyed this period novel - complete with gems from Cornelia Van Gorder:

"Sally doesn't remember when she was a younger generation herself...But I do - and if we didn't have automobiles, we had buggies - and youth doesn't change its ways just because it has cut its hair."

********

"Miss Van Gorder, I confess-I'm very anxious for you," he continued. "This letter is ominous. Have you any enemies?"

"Don't insult me! Of course I have. Enemies are an indication of character."

I didn't realize this was a retelling of [b:The Circular Staircase|994823|The Circular Staircase|Mary Roberts Rinehart|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348005570s/994823.jpg|2825747]... whoops.

A surprising and unique book, even if not a good one. I had heard of it previously, and decided to try it. It reads unlike any other novel I've ever read.

The viewpoint is chaotic; not just a multiple point-of-view book, but one that veers from viewpoint to viewpoint in the same chapter, nearly in the same paragraph. Sometimes we'll be in one character's thoughts, and other times outside of them. Sometimes we'll shift to omniscient narrator -- and even the omniscient narrator can't explain what's happening!

It is full of mistaken identities, characters withholding facts from one another - sometimes we know them at the time, sometimes we don't -- impostures, bizarre occurrences only later explained, an infallible (or almost so) master criminal. I felt like Lord Peter, as if I were "slightly drunk and tossed in a blanket".

A little research tells me this is actually a novel adapted from a play, so this perhaps explains the oddity of the presentation. It would be interesting to see this as if it were written by Hammett in the manner of "The Maltese Falcon", where everything is described from the outside, and we as the reader are challenged to understand emotions and motivations solely from the author's observations.

Overall: pretty good, the solution makes sense; the presentation of the clues isn't 100% fair, but it's intriguing nonetheless. A good filler novel for an idle evening, and certainly a unique reading experience.

I have to say that I think the writing is bad, but bad in such a unique way that it's worth reading once. It's certainly unlike any other book I've ever read.

I swear that for the first half of this book I thought I was rereading "The Circular Staircase." Not great, but not bad either; I honestly think I prefer her romances.

*I received this galley from the publisher Open Road Media* through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Master criminals. Dead bats as calling cards. A young couple in distress. The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart has it all and then some.

Courtleigh Fleming has recently passed away, shortly before his bank closes its doors after money and a cashier go missing. Mr. Fleming's nephew rents out his uncle's country house to Cornelia Van Gorder. But The Bat, a master criminal who continually defies the best detectives, is said to be in the area. After Miss Van Gorder receives several threatening, anonymous notes, she is sure the Bat is closing in. But Cornelia Van Gorder isn't one to back down, and with her maid Lizzie, her niece Dale, the Japanese butler Billy and the various other guests in the house, she is determined to uncover the Bat's true identity and the connection to the Fleming estate.

A novel based on a play (The Bat) based on a novel (The Circular Staircase), The Bat is a perfectly fun romp. As Ryan says in his great review over at Wordsmithsonia, there is definitely a bit of Noises Off or Arsenic and Old Lace hilarity in this mystery, as mysteriously locked and unlocked doors as well as inconvenient power outages assist the constant confusion among characters. Though I did figure out the villain prior to the last pages, I thought the denouement ingeniously done and thoroughly enjoyed this period novel - complete with gems from Cornelia Van Gorder:

"Sally doesn't remember when she was a younger generation herself...But I do - and if we didn't have automobiles, we had buggies - and youth doesn't change its ways just because it has cut its hair."

********

"Miss Van Gorder, I confess-I'm very anxious for you," he continued. "This letter is ominous. Have you any enemies?"

"Don't insult me! Of course I have. Enemies are an indication of character."