Sarah Keate Mysteries

In this classic military mystery-featuring a nurse who moonlights as a sleuth-"the whirlwind finale is as breathless . . . as any ending in some time" (The New York Times). While visiting her lifelong friend on a navy base in California, nurse Sarah Keate voluntarily fills in at the hospital, taking on the night shift. One of the patients in her care is Lieutenant Parly, a handsome, troublemaking, young sailor. Hospitalized after a car crash, he's recovering from a concussion and some broken ribs. Nothing serious-until his throat is cut . . . The isolated base has vast stores of ammunition and is a well-guarded outpost, surrounded by miles of desert and mountain ranges. The comings and goings of its staff and their families are closely monitored, leading to the conclusion that the killer must be one of their own. As gossip and rumors swirl around the base, Sarah digs deep into witness accounts and her own memories of that tragic night to root out the truth about one woman's murky past, and the killer who has crawled out of it . . . "Exceptionally good." -San Francisco Chronicle "A perfect puzzler." -The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

This classic mystery "could rob at least one night's sleep. . . . The scene is laid in a hospital and the things that happen there are terrifying in the extreme" (The New York Times). Nothing gets past the vigilance of Sarah Keate, head nurse on the third floor of Melady Memorial Hospital, a wing devoted to the wealthiest class of patients. Except one hot July night, she is startled to discover a patient has gone missing. And not just any patient, Peter Melady, grandson of the hospital's founder and head of the Melady Drug Company. During her frantic search, Nurse Keate stumbles upon the bloodied corpse of Dr. Harrigan, who was to perform the missing patient's surgery that very night. It's a mystery as baffling as it is terrifying, made worse by the bumbling police officer on the case. Good thing the keen mind of Nurse Keate is gathering details, from the mad whispers heard moments before the murder to the antique Chinese snuff bottle Peter Melady demanded she retrieve before his disappearance. Nothing escapes Sarah's shrewd notice, not even the cold-blooded calculations of a killer.

The "timing and gothic atmosphere are second to none" in this classic mystery where "the suspense steadily builds . . . until the satisfying denouement" (Publishers Weekly). From the moment nurse Sarah Keate arrives at the gloomy mansion of Adolph Federie, she senses trouble afoot, from the mysterious occupants of the house to the penetrating stare of a black cat named Genevieve. But Mr. Federie has just suffered a stroke and needs a live-in aid and Sarah is not one to shirk her duties. When a murder occurs in the same room as her patient, Sarah starts investigating along with the help of a local police officer. But how will she sleep at night knowing she's sharing a house with a killer? "This is Mrs. Eberhart's second mystery story, and it is even better than her first." -The New York Times "A first rate thriller. Federie House, with its sombre ruggedness on an almost deserted road, with its mysterious turrets, its darkened draperies, its heavily carpeted floors, and its sinister occupants, is an almost perfect setting for a mystery story." -Saturday Review of Literature "[While the Patient Slept] places detective fiction on a higher level than ever before." -Bookman "Eerie it is, as eerie can be, and a good yarn to boot." -Outlook