A Flood, A Missing Actress, and One Very Observant Landlady
I was scrubbing my kitchen sink — don't ask why I thought that was a good Sunday activity — when Mrs. Pitman started describing the floodwaters creeping into her Pittsburgh boarding house. And look, I stopped scrubbing. Because Mary Roberts Rinehart does something here that most mystery writers forget: she gives us a narrator who notices things. Not because she's a detective. Because she's a landlady. She knows when the towels don't add up. She knows when a tenant's story doesn't match their behavior. This is a fascinating case study in observational psychology disguised as a cozy mystery.
The premise is deceptively simple. Jennie Brice, a fading actress with a volatile marriage, disappears during a flood. Her husband claims she left him. Mrs. Pitman thinks otherwise. And honestly? The research actually shows that amateur investigators often outperform professionals in domestic cases precisely because they have access to the mundane details — the laundry, the meal patterns, the small lies. Rinehart understood this in 1913, and it still holds up.
What Makes Mrs. Pitman Compelling
Here's the thing about our protagonist: she's not trying to be heroic. She's trying to protect her property and her reputation. The protagonist exhibits classic pragmatic morality — she cares about the truth, yes, but she also cares about whether this scandal will ruin her business. That's not cynicism. That's realistic human motivation. (My therapist would have thoughts about how often we dress up self-interest as moral duty, but I digress.)
Wina Hathaway's narration captures this beautifully. She gives Mrs. Pitman a no-nonsense quality, a woman who's seen too much to be shocked but not so much that she's stopped caring. The pacing is measured — almost deliberate — which works for the slow accumulation of evidence but might test your patience if you're used to modern thriller pacing. I found myself asking: why does Mrs. Pitman really pursue this? Is it justice? Curiosity? The need to prove she's more than just a woman who rents rooms? Hathaway lets all these possibilities coexist in her reading.
That said, some of the character differentiation gets muddy. When Mr. Holcombe — the amateur detective who helps Mrs. Pitman — starts theorizing, his voice doesn't always feel distinct enough from the other male characters. It's not a dealbreaker, but I occasionally lost track of who was speaking during dialogue-heavy scenes.
The Period Piece Problem (And Why It's Not Really a Problem)
Okay, so. This book is over a hundred years old. The attitudes show. There's casual classism, some gender assumptions that made me wince, and a pace that assumes you have all afternoon to sit by the fire. If you need constant action, this isn't it.
But psychologically? This doesn't track as dated at all. The way Rinehart handles the husband — Philip Ladley — is genuinely sophisticated. He's not a mustache-twirling villain. He's charming when he needs to be, petulant when he's not getting his way, and absolutely convinced of his own victimhood. The author understands human nature. I've read case studies of domestic abusers that read exactly like Philip Ladley's behavior patterns. The gaslighting, the performative grief, the way he makes everyone around him doubt their own observations. Rinehart nailed it a century before we had the vocabulary for it.
The flood itself functions as a brilliant narrative device — it isolates the boarding house, destroys evidence, creates chaos that both conceals and reveals. Water as metaphor for secrets rising to the surface. (Yes, I know that's obvious. Sometimes obvious works.)
The Audio Experience
At just under four hours, this is a perfect weekend listen. I finished it across two cooking sessions and a morning jog. The length feels right — long enough to develop atmosphere, short enough that it doesn't overstay its welcome.
The production quality is... fine. Clean audio, no distracting background noise in my version, though I've seen some complaints about other editions. Hathaway's voice is clear and pleasant, if occasionally a bit theatrical in the dramatic moments. She leans into the period style, which I appreciated. This isn't a modern thriller; it shouldn't sound like one.
One thing that surprised me: how well the mystery holds up. I genuinely didn't know whodunit until the reveal, and when it came, it made psychological sense. The clues were there. I just hadn't assembled them correctly. That's the mark of a good mystery — fair play with the reader.
Who Should Listen
If you love Agatha Christie but wish she'd spend more time on character psychology. If you're interested in early feminist detective fiction (Mrs. Pitman is nobody's sidekick). If you want something cozy but not saccharine. If you're a sucker for atmospheric settings — and a flooded boarding house with a potential murderer is about as atmospheric as it gets.
Skip if you need fast pacing, if period attitudes will pull you out of the story, or if you're looking for a narrator who does wildly distinct character voices.
Me? I'm adding Mary Roberts Rinehart to my research list. She was doing psychological realism in mystery fiction before it was fashionable, and Mrs. Pitman deserves her place alongside Miss Marple as a quietly brilliant observer of human darkness.
