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 source of "the butler did it" plot device in her novel The Door (1930), although the exact phrase does not appear in her work. 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.

12 August 1876

Born on the same birth day (12 August): David Jacobs (writer) • Ewa Farna • Frederic Lindsay • Ibolya Dávid • Jane Wyatt • Khris Middleton • Klaus Toppmöller • Mark Knopfler • Park Yong-ha • Tanita Tikaram • Tedd Pierce

Born in the same month (August 1876): Charles F. Kettering • Giovanni Giuriati • Ivan Bilibin • John Scaddan • Kim Ku • Mary Ritter Beard • Varghese Payyappilly