Mignon G. Eberhart was one of the most successful American mystery novelists of all time. Her works drew favorable comparisons to Agatha Christie and it is east to see why. While The Patient Slept, first published in 1930 was Eberhart's novel and featured her only recurring detective Nurse Sarah Keate.

Keate works as an in-game nurse attending to a patient who has recently suffered a stroke. The house is filled with family members and other potential beneficiaries of the patient's will. Things become complicated when one of the family members is shot to death in the patient's room. But Nurse Keate is determined to care for her patient in spite of potential danger to herself. Working alongside Detective Lance O'Leary, whom she met in Eberhart's debut novel, The Patient in Room 18, she helps to unmask the killer while still finding time to nurse her patient back to health.

This is a classic puzzle mystery with a closed circle of suspects. Eberhart's detailed descriptions of the house and its inhabitants highlighted the gothic in atmosphere. Nurse Keate is a formidable character who does not shy away from danger especially when a patient's life is at stake.

This is a great introduction to Eberhart work. I hope thus is the first of many of her books we see brought back into print.

Thanks to Penzler Publishers/American Mystery Classics and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

It might be tempting to compare author Mignon Eberhart with the better-known Mary Roberts Rinehart, but don’t. Yes, both were incredibly popular in their lifetimes and, each wrote more than 50 intriguing mysteries, many of which were turned into movies. Indeed, Eberhart was second only to Dame Agatha Christie herself in earnings.

But Rinehart and Eberhart are more dissimilar than alike. Eberhart’s heroine isn’t a clever ingenue who’ll be engaged to be married by the end of the novel. Instead, veteran nurse Sarah Keate is a no-nonsense redhead in her 30s, clever and observant, reconciled to being a spinster — even if she’s once again helping that gentle, good-looking Detective Lance O’Leary. In this novel, Keate is hired as a nurse for Jonah Federie, an unconscious stroke victim who’s the patriarch of a dysfunctional family. But instead, it’s Jonah’s ne’er-do-well son Adolph who ends up murdered. Why kill Adolph Federie, an inveterate gambler who had been begging everyone for a loan? Readers will thoroughly enjoy the resolution to this suspenseful murder mystery and welcome Sarah Keate as a new favorite character.

This is the second in Eberhart’s series featuring Nurse Keate, but I didn’t feel at a loss for not having read the first. Although, now I <i>really</i> want to read that first book, The Patient in Room 118. I really hope that Penzler Publishers’ reissuing these Eberhart books will return her to her well-deserved popularity.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, Penzler Publishers and American Mystery Classics in exchange for an honest review.