The Bat
Written by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Narrated by Shelly Frasier
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
The spirited and headstrong spinster is not easily fazed, until one stormy night when she stumbles on a corpse. She musters all her nerves to play the vicious killer's deadly game and confront the Bat once and for all. The Bat, which draws from The Circular Staircase but adds some new plot complexities-namely, the villainous Bat-shows Mary Roberts Rinehart at the height of her career and is considered her greatest work.
Mary Roberts Rinehart
Often referred to as the American Agatha Christie, Mary Roberts Rinehart was an American journalist and writer who is best known for the murder mystery The Circular Staircase—considered to have started the “Had-I-but-known” school of mystery writing—and the popular Tish mystery series. A prolific writer, Rinehart was originally educated as a nurse, but turned to writing as a source of income after the 1903 stock market crash. Although primarily a fiction writer, Rinehart served as the Saturday Evening Post’s correspondent for from the Belgian front during the First World War, and later published a series of travelogues and an autobiography. Roberts died in New York City in 1958.
More audiobooks from Mary Roberts Rinehart
The Great Mistake Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Album Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Yellow Room Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Circular Staircase: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to The Bat
Related audiobooks
Thirteen Guests Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisoned Chocolates Case Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bat Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhosts from the Library: Lost Tales of Terror and the Supernatural Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death of Anton Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5B. J. Harrison Reads The Circular Staircase Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDangerous Days Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man in Lower Ten Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Window at the White Cat Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Door Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Circular Staircase Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5That Affair Next Door Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Astonishing Adventure of Jane Smith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Swimming Pool Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Forsaken Inn Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Secret Adversary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lock and Key Library Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWyllard's Weird Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Floating Admiral Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Notting Hill Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mystery in White Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Innocents Of Fr Brown: Produced by John Pridmore Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMurder Underground Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An English Murder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Breaking Point (Librovox) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr Wray's Cash Box Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5B. J. Harrison Reads The Moonstone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man in Lower Ten: Unabridged Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Amazing Interlude Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The After House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Classics For You
The Old Man and the Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad: A New Translation by Caroline Alexander Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Frankenstein Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Sherlock Holmes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perks of Being a Wallflower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Series of Unfortunate Events #1 Multi-Voice, A: The Bad Beginning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fountainhead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Crucible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Kill a Mockingbird Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stone Blind: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Atlas Shrugged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Thousand Ships: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Schindler's List Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Gatsby Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5War & Peace - Volume I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pride and Prejudice: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Rose Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/520,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Tale of Two Cities Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Master and Margarita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oz Reimagined: New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For Whom the Bell Tolls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Bat
11 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Book group chose this 1920 work.It was a good little mystery with the feeling of masterpiece theaterthroughout.No need for multiple settings.I marveled at some of the word choices....such as sepulchrally and terrorizationand sauvitity...The butler (Japanese) was addressed frequently in a manner with which I was uncomfortable.Smoking was rampant throughout.It was a "drug the doctor (Wells) forbade his patients but prescribes for himself"I can't see that flying today.And........It was a story with an actual plot and no sexual overtones needed...All in all...It was an interesting look into the world of suspense circa 1920.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very good example of early detective mystery. lots of classic twists and turns with misdirection.
I think it is important to remember when it was written to avoid some disappointment in the characters and some of the plotting. If you can get in the right mindset. you will really enjoy this chilling mystery. I'm definitely going to follow up with more of these early detective stories.
This review is of the audio book. - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Meh... If you've seen the silent movie version from the 1920's, it's a pretty faithful rendition of the book. The book itself reads like a silent movie scenario: an improbable master villian (in a black mask and cape!), a hidden room, the dead man who isn't quite as dead as he should be, an amnesia victim, a doughty old lady, etc. Maybe these things weren't quite so cliched when the book was written.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Another experiment in Golden Age authors. The main characters were enjoyable in this mystery, especially the Irish housekeeper. The mystery was sound, a bit too easy for me. Am I getting better at this because I've read so many? The villain lacked something. The author built him up to be a "super" villain, but I saw through him easily. She just didn't give him the attention he deserved when he finally entered the story. At least I can say she played fair with the clues, I caught every one of them. Perhaps too obvious? An enjoyable one-night read.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart was originally published in 1926. Unfortunately I found the story quite dated. The mystery was alright, but presented in a melodramatic style that quickly became too much. The background details, the settings, styles and manners of the time period were of more interest to me. There were some definite racial slurs, mostly aimed at a Japanese Butler that I found quite distasteful. But she also made sure the overwrought ghost-believing maid, Lizzie, was identified as Irish many times.An older woman leaves New York City to take a house in the country for the summer. She brings along her maid and her niece. The rural area is the haunt of a master criminal called the Bat. Before too long the residents of the house are experiencing nightly noises and strange sights. Add to this a dead man who isn’t quite as dead as everyone thinks and a bank robbery where the cash is missing, mix with some very stereotypical characters and the end result is The Bat.I prefer my older mysteries to be low-keyed and to use humor and/or wry observations to advance the plot. The Bat, on the other hand is presented in an over-blown, clichéd style that just didn’t hold up or keep my attention.