While the Patient Slept by Mignon G. Eberhart: a Review

Nurse Sarah Keate has taken an assignment in an old dreary house which will become a scene for murder.  She has arrived at Federie House to nurse old Mr. Federie who has suffered from a stroke and who is now unconscious. She finds the house to be absolutely dreadful. It is large, has no electricity, and does not seem to have been dusted in years. Many of the rooms lack doors and instead have dusty curtains at the openings. The butler, Grondal, would not have been out of place in a horror movie. The cook is equally mysterious, and serves stewed prunes for dessert.

The Federie family members and friends have gathered in the house in hopes of speaking with old Mr. Federie before he dies. There is his granddaughter March who is attractive and very strong willed. Her cousin Eustice has wasted a lot of money and hopes to get more from the old man. Old Mr. Federie's son Adolph is also a waster of money, and his wife, Isobel who apparently does not care for Adolph,  is not much better. Also present are Elihu Dimick, Federie's financial advisor,  Deke Lonergan who is a friend of Eustice and Mittie Frisling who seems to have been living in the house for some unknown reason. There is also a male cat who is named Genevieve.

On Sarah's first night in the house, she settles down in the patient's room.  During the night Adolph Fererie is murdered. Young police inspector Lance O'Leary arrives and after interviewing the residents of the house, he decides that nobody has an alibi for the time of the crime. Isobel does not seem to lament the death of her husband, and the others do not seem to have any motive for killing him.

Sarah is drawn into the search for the murderer. She is puzzled by the appearances and disappearances of a small jade elephant which seems to very important to several people in the house. She tries investigating the attic which is even spookier than the rest of the house. Eventually she and O'Leary will unravel  the web of historical and current events which ties these people together.

This is a very spooky book, and a very good mystery novel. It was published in 1930 and helped make Mignon G. Eberhart a very popular mystery writer. I read the edition which was published in 1995 by University of Nebraska Press. It has an introduction by Jay Fultz and a very good bibliography. I was surprised that he said that he had talked to Ms. Eberhart, but she did  live to the age of 97 (1899 - 1996).