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Title: The Man in Lower Ten
Author: Mary Roberts Rinehart
Narrator: Ella Porter
Format: Unabridged
Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
Language: English
Release date: 12-21-17
Publisher: Audioliterature
Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 1 votes
Genres: Classics, World Literature
Publisher's Summary:
"The Man in Lower Ten" is a mystery by Mary Roberts Rinehart.
Excerpt from the book:
McKnight is gradually taking over the criminal end of the business. I never liked it, and since the strange case of the man in lower ten, I have been a bit squeamish. Given a case like that, where you can build up a network of clues that absolutely incriminate three entirely different people, only one of whom can be guilty, and your faith in circumstantial evidence dies of overcrowding. McKnight could tell the story a great deal better than I, although he cannot spell three consecutive words correctly. But, while he has imagination and humor, he is lazy. "It didnt happen to me, anyhow," he protested, when I put it up to him. "Besides, you want the unvarnished and ungarnished truth, and Im no hand for that. Im a lawyer." So am I, although that has been disputed. I am unmarried, fond of outdoors, and completely ruled and frequently routed by my housekeeper, an elderly widow.
©2017 Audioliterature (P)2017 Audioliterature
Members Reviews:
Dangerous Train Travel
I understand from other reviews that this is an early Mary Rinehart mystery which may explain the confusing plot. I did enjoy the main characters, and I loved the 1906 setting. Cars were so rare that their owners named them, and trains were a vital part of American life--a great place for a murder. Worth the read.
Caveat: Rinehart uses terms for African-Americans that are clearly offensive, and she portrays black servants as little more than children in adult bodies. It can be jarring in 2016.
Too many coincidences!
Novels of certain eras really love to have all of their characters impossibly connected, and this is one of them. It's just one unrealistic coincidence after another. For me, a few ridiculous connections in a novel are quaint, this many were annoying. Every character (including minor ones like a maid) have connections to multiple characters.
For instance, the maid mentioned works for one of the suspects but also has an aunt working for the family of our hero's love interest. If that sounds confusing, it's because it is. It's like piecing together an incestuous family tree ("so he is the uncle, but also the brother?"). And why did Rinehart even feel the need to include such minute and silly details?
It isn't just social and familial coincidences, though, the plot is full of them too. The murder is somehow simultaneous with two frauds (one related to the murder and one not), crimes of passion (again one related and one not), a silly musical chairs-type confluence of events, improbable actions by the criminals, AND a literal train wreck. ....SPOILER ALERT..... (((Then the ONLY survivors are ALL the people involved in the crime! Ugh.......))))
I didn't care for the love story, again because of too many silly coincidences, but also because there is a bit of damsel in distress to it, and because I don't really care for the girl. She has information in a murder investigation that could help keep the hero out of jail and hides it because it's a little embarrassing.