The Patient in Room 18

Sarah Keate #1

by Mignon G. Eberhart, Jay Fultz (Introduction)

"The American Agatha Christie," as she is sometimes called, Mignon G. Eberhart has a huge following among mystery buffs. Her adroit style and penchant for chilling atmosphere are evident in The Patient in Room 18, her literary debut of 1929. It introduces the emphatic Nurse Sarah Keate, who helped popularize mystery novels and movies set in hospital wards amid the ominous gleam of medical instruments. Eberhart once said of the redoubtable, red-haired Nurse Keate, "I loved her because she had a good sharp tongue." The head nurse needs all her wits in The Patient in Room 18, which begins off-duty with an unpleasant dinner party and mixes radium with murder, drawing in the cunning Detective O'Leary, beautiful Maida with the lapis lazuli cufflinks, and sinister Corole.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Classics, Cozy Mystery, Mystery Thriller, 20th Century, Crime

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1929

About the author

Mignon Good (1899-1996) was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. She studied at Nebraska Wesleyan University from 1917 to 1920. In 1923 she married Alanson C. Eberhart, a civil engineer. After working as a freelance journalist, she decided to become a full-time writer. In 1929 her first crime novel was published featuring 'Sarah Keate', a nurse and 'Lance O'Leary', a police detective. This couple appeared in another four novels. In the Forties, she and her husband divorced. She married John Hazen Perry in 1946 but two years later she divorced him and remarried her first husband. Over the next forty years she wrote a novel nearly every year. In 1971 she won the Grand Master award from the Mystery Writers of America. She also wrote many short stories featuring banker/amateur sleuth James Wickwire (who could be considered a precursor to Emma Lathen's John Putnam Thatcher) and mystery writer/amateur sleuth Susan Dare.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century American Crime
BOOK 191 (of 250)
I've finding it difficult to locate still-in-print pre-1950 crime/mysteries by women writers, as the men (Hammett, Chandler) are the "big ones" remembered, and that's odd to me.
HOOK=3 stars: Eerie events are taking place in Room 18 in a hospital, and on the second page a newspaper headline screams: "Room 18 Claims a Third Victim". Good enough to keep reading!
Pace=3 stars: Solid.
Plot= 2: Stolen radium and nurses affairs with the director and other doctors. It's not bad, but a bit lacking.
People=3: Nurse Sarah Keate plays a very strong character, there is a handsome young man who builds bridges and is on his way from Uraguay to Russia (with the stolen radium perhaps), plus a suspicious janitor. No GREAT mystery/noir character like Mike Hammer, but there is a few interesting people.
Place=2: This hospital is small and privately owned, the grounds are beautifully maintained, and the director just happens to live nearby and has an eye open at all times for the younger nurses, but not Nurse Keate. But the potential for atmospheric weirdness just doesn't come into play.
A missed opportunity.
Summary: My overall average is 2.6 stars. Nurse Keate does appear in sequels, and perhaps there is more about Room 18 in the second in this series. I'm curious and plan to read at last one more in this series.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having loved the second novel by forgotten author Mignon Eberhart, While the Patient Slept, I rushed to catch up with the first in the series that features 30-something Sarah Keate. When The Patient in Room 18 was released, this veteran hospital nurse would have been deemed a spinster, and she sees herself as such. That doesn’t keep Keate from noticing good-looking Detective Lance O’Leary.

And O’Leary notices Keate, although we never learn in what way. He definitely sees how clever, observant and practical Sarah Keate is. Does he see something more? I certainly hope so!

Pity Mr. Jackson! He’s being treated with radium (Egads! even if it is 1928) in the eponymous Room 18. But on a literal stormy night, someone kills him with morphine from a syringe and steals that one gram of radium, which is valued at more than $50,000 (just shy of $1 million in today’s money). If it looks like an inside job to you, then you’re thinking along the same lines as O’Leary and Keate.

While The Patient in Room 18 is a bit anachronistic (no one would treat anyone with radium in that way, nor subscribe to O’Leary’s antiquated ideas about heredity), I loved this first novel in the series as much as I did the second. And that ending! I never, ever saw it coming.

Anyone looking for a new mystery series is definitely in luck, thanks to Eberhart — and Mysterious Press/Open Road, which is re-releasing these Sarah Keate novels. Hopefully, Eberhart will once again be returned to her rightful place in the cozy canon.

[Jan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently Mignon G. Eberhart was one of the top American female mystery writers of the Golden Age. And not too many people have set the heroine-sleuth as a nurse. Eberhart was a native of Nebraska and set her books there. Much of the action takes place at St. Ann's hospital, a private hospital. While the hospital appears to be somewhat rural, the detective, Lance O'Leary, appears to have more experience than might be normal in the rural Midwest.

The main issue revolves around the murder of a patient who was a recipient of a rare radium treatment. It is expensive, too. But Mr. Jackson can afford it. Dr. Letheny and his step-sister (or maybe she is a half-sister) have a dinner party. We meet every one of the suspects at the party. Plus, one of the characters in this book is the stormy weather. There is stormy weather at the party as well.

I had already seen the movie. Not sure I see Ann Sheridan as Sally Keate. As I read the book, I wasn't sure whether they had changed the murderer from the book.

[tortoise dreams · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was dark and stormy night. If you're allergic to genre cliches this might not be for you, but for readers who enjoy melodramatic tropes like the nostalgia of childhood treats this is a treasure. A Gothic mystery set not in a spooky and eerie old mansion, but in a spooky and eerie old hospital. A hospital that used to be "known in the grandiloquent nineties, as the Thatcher mansion." Wings have been added, the building updated, remodelled, and converted into St. Ann's Hospital, with "modern plumbing, electricity, a telephone to every floor"(!). This was Mignon Eberhart's first novel and the first appearance of Nurse Sarah Keate, who describes herself as "middle-aged" and an "old maid," but is adventurous and inquisitive, and does more than half of the detecting when a police detective, the young and handsome Lance O'Leary arrives to solve this closed-circle murder investigation. For a Gothic suspense novel this is fairly short and to the point. Eberhart's predessecor, Mary Roberts Rinehart wrote in a similar vein and her novels just kept getting longer as she shoveled on heaps of foreboding atmosphere. Speaking of foreboding, this is the second mystery novel I've read that made a point of citing Rachmaniniff's C Sharp Minor Prelude (can't place the other story). There's also a cat, of course. And a MacGuffin, here a gram of radium worth $65,000 (in 1929). Part of Gothic intrigue early in the century was the Gothic "other," a person of color, exotic and mysterious, who is here too, and the portrayal will seem racist to modern eyes. With hindsight it's easy to see the red herrings that Eberhart employs, and who according to the rules of melodrama can and can't be the guilty party. My favorite line in the novel (apparently a Turkish proverb) is: "As coffee should be: black as night, hot as hell, and sweet as love." The story pulls the reader in immediately and Nurse Keate is a character you want to know, sparkling and prickly at the same time. Eberhart and Keate may remind omniverous readers of Mary Roberts Rinehart and her nurse heroine-detective, Miss Pinkerton (Hilda Adams), who only appeared in a couple of short stories prior to Eberhart's book, but later had two novels of her own. [4★]

[Deb · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nebraska author. I don't generally read mysteries, so this was a stretch for me. Very little character development but lots of clues and action to follow. It's extremely dated (written in 1929) language wise PLUS extremely racist. So racist, I can't recommend it. Hasn't aged well, from that perspective.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Patient in Room 18 is the debut novel for Mignon G. Eberhart. It is also the book that introduces Nurse Sarah Keate (who would appear in six of Eberhart's 57 novels). Nurse Keate is strong-minded, red-haired, and sharp-tongued. She has a bit of the Had-I-But-Known heroine's attributes and, though often quick-witted, she does fail to recognize certain danger on a couple of instances in this, her first encounter with murder. She is much more assured and consistently perceptive in The Mystery of Hunting's End (my personal favorite)--but I'm sure that, as with all things, practice makes perfect and as her involvement in murders continues she becomes more adept.

In her debut, Nurse Keate faces the theft of radium (being used for medical purposes), the death of a patient and a doctor and the janitor/night watchman. The patient in question, one Mr. Jackson who needs the radium for his treatment, is given a hefty dose of morphine and sent into a permanent sleep. It would appear that the murder was necessary so the villain could steal the very valuable radium. Detective Lance O'Leary, who has a very impressive capture rate, is called in to track down the radium and the killer. And he's the one who discovers the patient's doctor dead in a locked closet. Did the doctor walk in on the killer and get murdered to keep him quiet? Or is there more to this mystery than meets the eye? It would seem that there were at least four people wandering in and out of the Room 18 and most of them were carrying deadly instruments of one sort or another.

And then, in a classic little move, Higgins the janitor/night watchman pops up and confides in Nurse Keate. You see--he's seen something that "just ain't right" and he doesn't know what to do about it. Despite her best efforts Higgins refuses to reveal the most important bits of his information because he simply has to run off and see to his boiler. And even though Nurse Keate sees one of the possible suspects slinking away, it doesn't occur to her that Higgins might actually be in danger because of his knowledge (this would be one of her less-than-stellar moments). Naturally, before too many pages are turned we have another corpse on our hands...poor Higgins.

After finding the radium and losing it again, O'Leary (with helpful tidbits from Nurse Keate) manages to gather enough clues to stage a grand finale in....Room 18. All the suspects are brought together and O'Leary gives us the standard Golden Age wrap-up monologue. Accusations are thrown about until finally the villain slips up and reveals knowledge that only the killer could know. Snap goes the trap! And snap go the handcuffs!

Despite my rather trite summation and being full of standard mystery plot devices, this really was an enjoyable read. I liked seeing Sarah Keate in her first mystery and watching her relationship with O'Leary begin. There are plenty of clues--I picked up on most of them--and plenty of plot twists--I missed some of them. And the denouement was very satisfying. I certainly recommend this early look at a hospital-based mystery with a strongly-written female character. Three and a half stars.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Arthur Pierce · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking forward to this but found it exceedingly bland. The mystery was mildly interesting, involving the theft of radium, and there was atmosphere in the early part of the book. But characterization was practically nil (except for the narrator) and even the detective was uninteresting.

[Edie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was written in 1929 by one of the earlier American women mystery authors. It feels dated, like walking through a museum. It is the story of a police attempt to discover and capture a thief and murderer who attempted to steal some radium from a private rural hospital in the midwest.
The story is told from the point of view of the charge nurse at the hospital, Sarah Keate, a fortyish intelligent observer.

[Mary Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

[Hana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esordio più che convincente per Mignon Good Eberhart, prolifica autrice statunitense, specializzata in quello che al giorno d'oggi definiremmo "thriller".
La stanza n° 18 è il primo dei romanzi con protagonisti Sarah Keate, una infermiera di mezz'età dal carattere deciso, in grado di far fronte a qualsiasi situazione senza perdersi d'animo, e Lance O' Leary, giovane detective dai modi e dal vestiario impeccabili, molto più che promettente.

È una delle tante serate organizzate a casa del dottor Letheny, primario al St. Ann's Hospital, da sua cugina Carole; l'uomo è celibe, ed è la donna ad occuparsi dell'amministrazione di casa. È ancora piuttosto giovane, e ha un suo certo fascino; i suoi modi, però, non sono dei più raffinati: senza troppi peli sulla lingua, a volte non è proprio la compagnia più auspicabile; le piace mettersi in mostra, e sicuramente vorrebbe concedersi molto di più di quanto le venga permesso dall'austero cugino.
Gli ospiti di quella cena sono due colleghi, il dottor Balman e il dottor Hajek, le infermiere, l'affidabile Sarah Keate e la giovane e bella Maida Day, e un amico di vecchia data, l'ingegnere Jim Gainsay.
Il discorso finisce per cadere su uno degli ultimi acquisti dell'amministrazione del St. Ann, un grammo di radio, costato ben settantacinquemila dollari; per i medici è una spesa eccessiva: tutto quel denaro avrebbe potuto essere impiegato in altro, come gli studi portati avanti da Letheny e Balman che rischiano di dover essere interrotti prima di raggiungere un risultato, ma ciascuno dei commensali non nasconde che una cifra del genere cambierebbe loro la vita, e molti ammettono che sarebbero disposti a spingersi anche oltre il lecito per assicurarsi una simile ricchezza.
Dopo la cena, che non si rivela delle più piacevoli, date le tensioni che si creano presto tra gli ospiti, Letheny, Sarah e Maida tornano in ospedale per il turno di notte.
Un improvviso temporale e un black-out permettono a qualcuno di uccidere e far scomparire il prezioso radio, ma è solo l'inizio della scia di sangue della stanza numero 18....

Una lettura piacevole, che sa intrattenere per la suspence che la Good Eberhart riesce a creare in alcune scene clou (ad esempio, nella notte del primo - e secondo - omicidio), ma che non è esente da difetti per un pubblico smaliziato e che si muove agevolmente nei territori del giallo: laddove i sospettati pullulano, il colpevole non può che essere chi (almeno apparentemente) sembra al di sopra di ogni sospetto, per cui non è molto difficile fare due più due. Anche i risvolti sentimentali della vicenda sono piuttosto scontati (per non dire superflui), oltre che costituire un problema per i diretti interessati che si ritrovano immancabilmente in cima alla lista dei sospettati nel tentativo di proteggersi l'un l'altra.

Il detective O' Leary, in fin dei conti, non ha nulla che lo distingua in maniera caratteristica nella pletora dei grandi investigatori dei classici della narrativa poliziesca; più interessante il personaggio di Sarah Keate, voce narrante del romanzo: non giovanissima e con uno sguardo piuttosto disincantato, è probabilmente uno dei punti di forza del romanzo.

The Patient in Room 18, inoltre, può essere ricordato per essere uno degli antesignani del medical thriller, e già questo è un motivo più che sufficiente per la lettura.

[Rick Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

The action is page-turning Mignon Eberhart. Storms, fog, people lurking in and out of windows, dark corridors, strange noises. Suspicion points at each person in turn, until Lance O'Leary sets a trap for the murderer with the aid of Nurse Keate. This is the first Nurse Keate novel, and sets the stage for further episodes of the two. A little longing-from-afar from Keate's perspective, but she is much too professional to let anything romantic progress along that line.

The hospital takes us back to an earlier day when nurses wore caps, capes, crisp white uniforms, and stockings - no ugly baggy scrubs here. The facility is certainly laughable by today's standards (open doors, no emergency lighting, loose radium, each nurse has her own personal hypodermic syringe, lots of morphine and ether, one telephone per floor, open unscreened windows) but remember this is 1929.

One thing I like about her books, and this one especially, is the limited cast of characters. Other authors load us up with throwaway 1-dimensional red herrings just to fill out the suspect pool, but not Eberhart. Each character is here for a purpose.

Speaking of red herrings, there are a few and I was convinced they were the real deal; but I was fooled. The denouement reveals the killing/radium theft was a complex shell game - I confess a bit too complex for me to follow without mapping it out - but it comes to a satisfactory conclusion.

[robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ended up by reading quite a lot of Mignon Eberhart (and bless kindle, for releasing so many ebooks of so many out of print authors. I caught up on Margaret Mitchell, Patricia Wentworth, Ms Eberhart...) and ok, as I type this I must concede that they're not all out of print, or not totally out of print, but when someone's written upwards of 30 books and I can't get them at the library, I prefer to troll the used book store. And these turn up seldom; though they do turn up. it's how I encountered all of them to start with.

So, Patient in Room 18; Eberhart subscribes to the murder/romance pairing, in which there's always some couple in peril, who end up together in the end. Her writing is good enough that I can forgive it and even enjoy it.

This one is set in a hospital, so the atmosphere is kind of grim. It's a good job of getting across the heat, the claustrophobia, the tension. I do recommend this book, and all of her mysteries, though the very late ones (she wrote til she was quite old!) and the pure romances leave me cold.

[Cherry Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atmospheric, period piece about a series of murders taking place in a hospital. Much like another period nurse mystery by Mary Roberts Rinehart. I think of this book and others in the series as akin to the stranded in a haunted house genre. Ten Little Indians (Agatha Christie) in a hospital setting. These books are comforting, fun to read, satisfying and require little of the reader but attention. Perfect book to take to the beach or read in front of a fire.

[Glenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in the 1920's, so there are cultural and social differences, but Eberhart is quite good at pacing and atmospherics.

[Saklani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book definitely has some of the prejudices and conceits of its time, but it's still worth a read. The mystery is a lot of fun, especially since it centers around the theft of a gram of radium, which was used for medicinal purposes in a way that was crazy dangerous. And St. Anne's Hospital has purchased $69k of it (which translates into almost $1.5million today), making it open season.

The main character is an 'old maid' nurse, who fluctuates between being smart and efficient with staggering stupidity for the purposes of the plot. However, the character is still strong enough to be interesting, especially for the time. The rest of the characters contain plenty of red herrings and people behaving badly. The police are actually smart, which is a nice touch.

I will be trying some of the others in the series.

[Enko · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually picked up this book by mistake because of a mix-up, but hmmm I'm glad I did so. I do feel like Eberhart isn't quite sure whether she's writing a ghost story or a mystery thriller though, but the combination is okay. The ending feels rather abrupt but the climax is wonderful.
I've been reading Reddit horror threads as an attempt to relieve some stress and it's making me nostalgic for some scary and simple things in life. I sure hope I'll find something else that's creepy and classical.
This is so random, but I watched a spanish performance of Carmen on Sunday, and for some reason my mind gave Lance O'Leary the facial structure and body shape of the actor for the officer Zuniga. THAT WAS A REALLY FINE-BUILT MAN OH MY GOD.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite dated, but the story was excellent.

If you remember old time nursing, you will love this one. The nurses wear white with those nurse hats! And red and blue capes!

I would have loved a map of the building and the surrounding grounds as the descriptions were not enough for me to follow along closely enough to solve the "who was where at the time".

This is a very clever plot, with a couple of deaths and a hunt for a missing item. The writing clearly is describing something wicked and there is subsequently a lot of suspense added.

The investigation is often confused because some of the suspects lie!!! Not fair Mignon...

I borrowed a copy from the public library.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A murder mystery set in a late 1920's hospital with unique characters and a well defined dark and stormy setting. When a patient ends up dead during the overnight shift of head nurse Sarah Keate and a valuable hospital asset goes missing the police are called in to investigate. Detective Lance O'Leary applies his unique detective skills to the mystery that gets deeper and deeper as the evidence mounts and other bodies are discovered. I was kept getting to the end as red herrings were disproven and suspects stories debunked or supported by further evidence. I would rate this book 3.5 stars if Goodreads allowed half stars.

[Yibbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that was a great mystery. Mignon Eberhart built a scene of storm and suspense. Then there is a cast of the fabulously rich, bitter relatives, ambitious physicians, and exotic travelers. Through it all stolidly marches nurse Sarah Keate, soothing frantic nurses, healing the sick, and finding clues. Her solid common sense and an unquenchable curiosity make the eyes and ears of the detective as he sorts through the crazy alibies and motives.
It was a fun read. One that I would heartily recommend to all lovers of cozy mysteries. But be warned – if you are a little jumpy, maybe don’t read it at night. It does get spooky.

[Elaine Nickolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1929 this was a classic Agatha Christie type mystery.
Who killed the patient in room 18 and how do you solve a mystery that has so many suspects to choose from?
Detective O'Leary, along with one of the nurses must figure this out.
The author kept the story flowing at a pace that kept the reader wanting to read just one more chapter.
50 State Challenge=#38= Nebraska

[Kallie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, this is definitely of its time, so the commentary on the people of color present here is alarming now. Fortunately that doesn't play a huge role, and the actual mystery is excellent and classic. An old hospital ward with a room no one wants to stay in because of what happened there. Complete with a plucky nurse heroine.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

An American contemporary of Agatha Christie, Mignon Eberhart has a similar gift for moody atmosphere if not necessarily as deft at plot. There are definitely a few elements that haven't age well, but overall an enjoyable read -- enough to keep making my way through her other mystery novels.

[Adele · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a nurse, I love stories with nurses as the main character. I loved the Bess Crawford series. I also like reading books set in the early 1900’s. This was pretty suspenseful as a mystery and very interesting to read about the medical care back then.

[Jaynie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. I would recommend learning a bit about culture in the United States during the time, first (date the book was published) and second (date when the story was set). There are a lot of references I had to look up, and I'm 67!

[Neer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well done creepy atmosphere. More here: https://ahotcupofpleasureagain.wordpr...

[Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely narrative voice, somehow couldn't focus on the mystery elements, but I didn't really mind that. Some pretty gross racism just casually in there, the American Agatha Christie indeed!

[Andrea Wenger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story, but the racism is incredibly overt and distasteful.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty racist, so warning there. Otherwise, gripping and very good. I like the hospital setting a lot.

[Reilly Berberian · Rating 4 out of 5]

well done if fairly standard murder mystery-whodunnit. eberhart is very funny

[Abbey · Rating 3 out of 5]

1929, #1 Sarah Keate R.N. & Lance O'Leary, police detective; murder in a hospital in a small town (unclear, but likely Midwest USA). My rating is actually closer to three-and-one-half stars than three stars, but I don't know how to give a half-star.

Somewhat romantic, but not as sweet as you might think, this is a robustly plotted timetable mystery from a writer who became one of the most prolific - and popular! - American mystery writers ever. Now few readers have even heard of her, and many of those who have, consider her to be a writer of romantic suspensers only; it's their loss, IMO.

Ms. Eberhart's first book is a snappy, fast-moving mostly amateur sleuth mystery about several deaths in a prestigious small hospital, and the intrepid Head Nurse (not beautiful, quite practical and kindly; her age is not clear but likely around 40. The character of Sarah Keate is one of the strengths of this series. Eberhart's settings are excellently drawn, and all the characterizations superb, with one caveat: her use of several far less than flattering stereotypes (particularly concerning one central character) may offend some modern readers. It's important, though, to try and overlook those attitudes, as they only reflect assumptions quite prevalent at the time (late 1920s) - Eberhart likely just didn't know any better, or she may have (she was a very smart lady) but wanted to put quickly recognizable characters in her first novel and settled for the sort of shorthand that all readers of the time would likely have understood.

I found repetition of those tropes (class, ethnicity, status) annoying after a while, because she seemed to reiterate upon them again and again. I was, however, able to ignore them once the plot got completely underway. Her writing was smooth and professional, even though this was her first published novel. And it was fascinating to see how a hospital in 1929 operated, at least "somewhat like" as it's impossible now to know whether Eberhart's rendition of the place and its procedures was accurate for the time. I think it likely that she was, at least, not far wrong in her depictions, although some procedures and attitudes were stretched out a bit for dramatic emphasis. But it all worked.

Even with the stereotypes, this is still an entertaining read - the plot is quite dark and convoluted, and moves fast, and still pulls you in despite the predictability of some bits. A wonderful beginning to a long and illustrious career.