Cherry Ames, Night Supervisor

Cherry Ames #11

by Julie Tatham, Helen Wells (creator)

Cherry's new post as the night supervisor at a small, financially strapped hospital brings her into conflict with a prominent patient.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Childrens, Classics, Juvenile

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Julie Campbell Tatham
aka
Julie Campbell, Julie Tatham and Julie C. Tatham

Julie Tatham, née Campbell, took over the writing of the Cherry Ames series after World War II and repositioned Cherry as the heroine of a peacetime mystery series.

Tatham worked as the assistant society editor of the New York Evening Post before marrying Charles Tatham, though she later returned to the newspaper.

Subsequently, she worked as a secretary, a hotel hostess, and the head of her own literary agency. She wrote both the Trixie Belden and Ginny Gordon series, under the name Julie Campbell, eventually becoming a full-time writer.

Both those series were for younger readers; Trixie was especially successful, and was continued by ghostwriters long after Tatham left the series. Trixie is still popular today; the books are being reissued.

Tatham also wrote for adults, especially on Christian Science.

Reviews

[Cathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this mystery with Cherry Ames as the night shift supervisor. It was fun to see Midge as a volunteer aide.

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the time they were printed, this series was as popular as Nancy Drew. I couldn't wait to read the next one. I read them in high school and help determine my training as a lab tech. They were written to encourage young women to enter the field of nursing.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Career nurse Cherry Ames has taken a job as Night Supervisor (moving up in the world, Cherry!) at a small rural hospital where the director is full of energy and there's lots of community support-- but not much money. Fortunately there's a ray of mystery light-- if only the recently-deceased longtime benefactor (uncle of the girl in love with the hospital's director!) had written his will to give some money to the hospital, instead of leaving it in trust for his niece until she turns 21... Or didn't he? Hm. The new 'star boarder' -- also the benefactor's executor--seems to be up to something sneaky. Perhaps Cherry can get to the bottom of it.

Well, there's your plot. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough nursing in this installment of the career story; but there was a lot of chasing around and some romance. The role of the "Grey Lady" and "Junior Volunteer" volunteer staff is highlighted, but we sure don't get much of a sense of what a night supervisor does. (Except rushing around a lot.) There are a lot of babies-- including 2 sets of quints! born in this book though.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh Cherry, I feel so torn. I love you and your madcap adventures, yet the repetition has become tiring. And yet I can't put you down and end up losing sleep to finish reading about your ingenious mystery solving skills.

I've jumped out of order so will need to turn to interlibrary loan to get back on track. But if I were to read the next book after this one, it would be Cherry Ames, Mountaineer Nurse, which evidently has Cherry going to rural Appalachia. So what I of course imagine is Cherry working in Appalachian ER (a skit from Saturday Night Live... anyone? anyone?).

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

1950.

Cherry ends up a night supervisor at a rather run-down rural hospital. She is staying with some farmers so she can get to the hospital easily. The hospital itself is majorly understaffed and poorly equipped.

Into this comes the mystery of a rich man, a possible second will, a patient who may be a crook and a girl who would inherit the money from a second will, but not from the first one. Gambling debts, a crooked attorney and a lot of investigation by Cherry end up revealing the truth behind the missing will.

[Becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my least favorite book in this series so far. It took forever to get through. I had a hard time keeping the characters straight, and I didn't really follow all the details regarding stocks and bonds and other finance jargon. It was a bit repetitive as well. Thank goodness it's done! I hope the rest of the series does not follow suit.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed these books as a kid and am enjoying them again as an adult. Like the adventures that Cherry has. Looking forward to rest of the series.

[Molly S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Page turning mystery and fun, new characters!

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable, quick read. However, the very premise is rather unblievable — a country hospital mainly supported by the volunteer assistance of the locals. The head doctor had hoped for a generous legacy from a patron who recently passed away, but it seems he instead left everything to his granddaughter. Cherry arrives to take charge at night, but very little actually medical information is included, other than mentioning a number of babies being born, and an operation or two. Instead Cherry dives into the mystery of the missing will, and not only solves it, but also assists with two romances.

[Sara MG · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had known about Cherry Ames when I was a kid. She is even better than Nancy Drew. I feel like she is a lot more relatable because she is educated, she’s a hard worker, and she has a job. I couldn’t help but imagine my own grandma while reading this book. She was a nurse in the 40s and 50s and I think she was probably just as cool as Cherry. I love that this book is such a product of its time, with girls who are caught up within the system but find ways to demand respect anyway. A very enjoyable read, a good mystery, strong female character.

[Petrichor · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is probably one of the more dull entries in the Cherry Ames series and has more to do with stocks and bonds than nursing. Still, it's something of a rarity to have a book where Cherry isn't romantically attached to anyone, and it was kind of refreshing.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real departure from earlier books in the series, one that I don’t think I read as a child, almost no attention paid to nursing but instead to the stock market and probated wills. Diverting but ….

[LuAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly enjoyable and well thought-out mystery involving stock speculation, a detailed hospital floor plan, Cherry’s clever deductions, two romances, over a dozen babies and Shakespeare!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the small-town hospital aspect a lot, but that sure was some baby boom! The mystery wasn't very mysterious, so that part of the plot was a bit flat for me.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mystery was a bit obvious, and I do like the Army books better...but in general it was a good addition to the series.