The First Queen of Mystery: Mary Roberts Rinehart
Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958) almost wound up dead just like one of her own characters.
On the morning of June 21, 1947, a disgruntled cook named Blas Reyes pointed a loaded gun at Rinehart and pulled the trigger. The only thing that saved the famous mystery writer was the age of the bullets; the filthy and ancient cartridges did not fire. The gun dropped to the floor.
The household servants rushed to save Rinehart. Her personal maid, Margaret Muckian, and her chauffeur, Ted Falkenstrom, tried to subdue Reyes. They only succeeded after Reyes tried another method to dispatch his employer—the mad and likely drunk Reyes placed two kitchen knives in his hands and took a swipe at Rinehart. Once pinned to the floor, Reyes was escorted out of the house by Howard MacFarland, the police captain of Bar Harbor, Maine. The next day, the would-be assassin took his own life in his jail cell. Rinehart paid for the Reyes’s funeral and burial.