Where There's a Will

Where There's a Will is Mary Roberts Rinehart's hilarious comedy involving a health spa, an heir, a would-be princess, and an impostor. The story is told by Minnie, who has essentially run the spa for years and inherited the care of its famous spring from her father. When the old doctor dies and leaves the Hope Springs Spa to his near-do-well grandson with the stipulation that he live on premises for two months in order to inherit, the grandson is nowhere to be found. So Minnie tries to save the spa by enlisting the help of family and friends to trick the lawyer and keep the spa running.

Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1958), born in Pittsburgh, was a novelist and playwright best known for her mystery stories, which combined humor with ingenuity. The success of her novels The Circular Staircase and The Man in Lower Ten established her reputation as an important American mystery writer; at one time she was the highest paid writer in America. In addition to mysteries, she wrote comic tales, plays, romances, and travel books, some of which reflected her experiences as a correspondent during World War I. One critic called her autobiography, My Story, her finest book.