I looked forward to reading the Red Lamp-- it had all the right elements--atmosphere, mystery, ghosts. Rinehart is supposed to be the American version of Agatha Christie, so I expected to tuck into this and become engrossed. Don't know why, it just didn't work. Seemed choppy. Found myself skimming to get to the end as I'd lost interest in the details. ( )

A fairly enjoyable mystery with hints of the supernatural. It was a bit slow to start–mostly because of the fussy, clueless narrator–but picked up pretty soon and was then an addictive read. The narrator, English professor William Porter, has inherited a seaside estate from his uncle, who died in somewhat strange circumstances. Early on, the narrative establishes that there are definitely going to be supernatural happenings, as Porter’s wife Jane is shown to have various psychic visions. Porter, Jane and their niece Edith plan to spend the summer at Twin Hollows, but Jane refuses to stay in the manor house–they stay in the smaller Lodge while Warren Halliday, Porter’s colleague and Edith’s love interest, takes up residence in the boathouse on the estate. The author establishes the history of the house, the circumstances surrounding Uncle Horace’s death and the beliefs of the townspeople, who see the red light in the window of the house as an ominous sign. Eventually, strange occurrences, followed by murders, shake up the town, and Edith and Halliday, along with a reluctant Porter, start to play detective.

As a narrator, Porter can sometimes be irritatingly stuffy, but his cluelessness helps keep the reader guessing. He is suspected of some of the crimes but is annoyingly foolish–for example, he keeps taking random midnight walks after he knows the police are suspicious but then starts panicking when something happens in the night. The book has some similarities to the other Rinehart that I read (The Wall)--the plot twists and murders keep piling up, suspicion falls on one and then another character, although one of the main characters, who is initially suspected, is clearly not guilty, somewhat bumbling and colorless detectives chase red herrings and of course the end has a final twist. This one didn’t have as many of the “Had I but known…” statements that are apparently Rinehart’s calling card and they tended to be cleared up quickly. The supernatural elements are interesting if not particularly scary, and somehow, the Gothic feel is minimal–probably due to the setting of a small American seaside town. Rinehart’s prose reads smoothly and doesn’t feel very dated–I kept thinking it had a midcentury setting instead of taking place in a few months in 1922. Maybe not the most memorable book but a solid read. ( )

I knew this was a ghost story, of sorts, so I started it bright and early yesterday morning, and became so engrossed in the story that I almost, almost, finished it last night. leaving nothing but 3 of the last 4 conclusion chapters for me to read today.

Mary Roberts Rinehart was an excellent writer; that her genius has been so far forgotten today is a tragedy. The Red Lamp was originally written in 1925, and putting aside the lack of technology and the beautifully elegant writing that today might be considered a tad verbose, the story holds up perfectly; it would take very little to make this story 'modern'.

The Red Lamp is complex to the point of labyrinthine though. Like the main character, I stumbled through the story in ignorance. Some of this was by design, as the mc is meant to be a spectator not an active participant in solving the crimes, but some of it was because there was just so much going on and that beautifully elegant writing of Rinehart's made for easy camouflage of any clues.

The book is, with the exception of the introductory and final 4 chapters, purely epistemological, with no chapters, just journal entries. This style doesn't always lend itself to a submersive experience for the reader, but these journal entries are detailed enough that it makes almost no difference from a first person narrative.

The ghostly part of the story, in spite of the enormous potential for scarring the spit out of me, were subdued enough that they never raised so much as a hair. This was a wee bit disappointing, I admit, but it didn't adversely affect the story; they were never the point of the book, it was always about the mysterious killings and there was never doubt that those killings were done by a very corporeal being.

All in all, this was an excellent mystery. I'd recommend this to anyone curious about Golden Age Mysteries who might be hesitant fearing dry or dated story-telling. While not perfect, The Red Lamp is most assuredly neither dry nor dated. ( )

Not a fan of this mystery. The journal style of the narrator/protagonist got lost in irrelevant details (which are always hard to judge in a murder mystery), especially as he was intentionally led astray by other characters, and the voice was very dry - but perhaps I'm just not a fan of supernatural elements in stories like this, and I found the weird trances and hysterics of his wife just annoying. ( )

June 3, 2000
The Red Lamp
Mary Roberts Rinehart

This was one I didn’t have from NY days, when I bought all those other MRR books.

I really liked the premise, which has a hint of the supernatural mixed in with murder. Mr. Porter and his wife have inherited a house, a vacation house rather than a permanent residence, and there are rumors of a ghostly presence there, usually indicated by the glow of a mysterious red lamp.

For some reason it didn’t hold my attention very well. Maybe the mood wasn’t right. I kept interrupting it to read other things, but haven’t finished them either. It was just very dry, although I know that’s Rinehart’s style, and without a feeling of real suspense. I might re-read it again later. I do like MRR very much, and have a couple more of hers to read. ( )