Ms Rinehart is considered to be the American equivalent of Agatha Christie. She is the author of the phrase the butler did it . Rinehart has written hundreds of short stories, plays, travelogues and special interest articles. The Case of Jenny Brice setting is a boarding house in a poor section of Pittsburgh. A flood hampers the detective case. Miss Pitman is a convincing amateur detective. She is convinced that a murder has taken place in her home. After all she had just found a broken knife, a blood stained rope and a bloody towel. The police are no help since there is no body. Miss Pittman knows that the sudden disappearance of Jenny Brice along with the clues she has found means that foul play has occurred under her very nose.