The Circular Staircase — Mary Roberts Rinehart

Spiral Of Terror.

The old mansion was called Sunnyside, but from the moment Rachel and her young wards moved into it, dark shadows of danger lengthened. Mute fear silenced the servants' tongues and veiled their eyes.

Nameless dred haunted the dark corridors and musty rooms. And what had seemed an enchanted haven from care fro Rachel, day by day and night by night became a perilous prison where evil rose from the secret past, and terror crept silently and inexorably up the circular staircase.