Haunted Lady by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Mary Roberts Rinehart, the author of many golden-age mysteries, has been called the American Agatha Christie (credited with originating the device "The Butler did it"), and is still republished in new editions.

Her popular titles include The Circular Staircase, The Bat (which Bob Kane credits as an inspiration for his Batman character), The Man In Lower Ten, and The Case of Jennie Brice. The three Nurse Hilda Adams novels form a trilogy: Miss Pinkerton, Haunted Lady, and Episode of the Wandering Knife, and by chance, I picked Haunted Lady off the shelf and read it first.

Personal nurse Hilda Adams was just coming off a case for the police, when Inspector Fuller calls. This time she is asked to nurse an eccentric old woman who thinks someone is trying to scare her to death. Matriarch Eliza Fairbanks has already survived sugar spiked with arsenic, and somehow, is waking up to find live bats, sparrows, and rats inside her locked room. Hilda settles outside her door to watch throughout the night. Of course, the large home is filled with a cast of characters: Eliza's daughter Marion; her ex-husband Frank, who taunts her wth his new wife; their daughter Janice - devoted to her grandmother and falling in love as she helps young Dr. Brooke; Eliza's son Carlton and his blowsy blonde wife, who makes it known she'd rather be somewhere else; and several household staff with their own agendas.

Hilda examines the room to find the windows and screens sealed, and no cause for the closet door to keep swinging ajar. Each night the room is locked from within, and the old woman turns up the radio and plays solitaire.

One night, after a bedtime visit from Dr. Brooke, Eliza is found stabbed through the heart with a knife, the radio still blaring.

After the confusion and shock, there follows about 150 pages of unexplained events involving: A dark figure carrying something bulky to the stable - a swaying and tinkling chandelier - a figure coming down from the closed third floor - an old birdcage - a can of white paint - a pack of playing cards - a rope tied to a window - and several instances where Hilda found "she had no idea that it was to be the last time she was the see (them) alive".

Hilda herself witnesses the strange scratching noises in the night, and as her patient has died, sees no reason she should remain, however, Inspector Fuller keeps her on the scene. Hilda shows herself very capable in a crisis, and disarms people with her pleasant cherubic face. It's surprising what people will confess while you are knitting. She is not a detective, or even a Police Nurse, but has the sharp capabilities to root out the truth.

There are a few references to the earlier mystery of Miss Pinkerton, but stands on its own.

The plot was overrun with clues, as any one of them could have done the murder, but you can relax as it will all be explained when the culprit is announced - skillfully left for the very last few pages.

Recommended for classic, golden-age entertainment.

My other Mary Roberts Rinehart review:

The Case of Jennie Brice

1942 / Paperback / 240 pages