The mystery stories and other popular fiction of Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876 1958) brought her wealth and fame, but she was much more than a writer. She was a well-known American, respected and loved during a time when few women achieved national influence.

Her early life was conventional enough. Trained as a nurse, she met and married a physician, with whom she had three sons. She was living the stereotypical life of a young matron in Allegheny (now part of Pittsburgh), when her husband s investments evaporated during a stock market crash. She began writing as a means to supplement...