A review by staticdisplay
The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart

3.0

I read this because I've been watching some classic movies (The Bat Whispers; The Bat) and I found out it was based on this author's writing. So this is listed as Miss Cornelia Van Gorder #1 which I have no idea where that is coming from because she definitely doesn't appear in this story, as far as I noticed. Anyway, this story is so strange: we're barely introduced to the main character, who tells us that he doesn't really know how to tell a story but here we go. So, we follow him through a mysterious meeting regarding some forged notes (we never learn too much about Bronson or his forgeries, but he's presented as fairly sinister), a train crash, and some investigations. There are several instances of casual racism which sucks and was my primary issue with this story; also didn't find the love story too interesting. Otherwise, the characters were fairly dynamic. There was a spooky moment in a seemingly abandoned mansion during a thunderstorm. The resolution was full of surprises!