''While the Patient Slept'' is a 1930 mystery novel by

Mignon G. Eberhart Mignon Good Eberhart (July 6, 1899, Lincoln, Nebraska – October 8, 1996, Greenwich, Connecticut) was an American author of mystery novels. She had one of the longest careers (from the 1920s to the 1980s) among major American mystery writers. Ear ...

. It was both Eberhart's second novel, and the second of the author's seven novels revolving around the central character of

Sarah Keate Sarah Keate is a fictional character, the protagonist in a series of medical mystery novels by American author Mignon G. Eberhart. Overview Keate, a nurse with a talent for solving crimes, was introduced in Eberhart's debut novel, ''The Patien ...

. The novel received positive reviews upon its release. A film adaptation of the same name was released by

First National Pictures First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the count ...

in 1935.

Plot

The gothic, closed community, murder mystery involves a nurse who is assigned to the at-home care of a man who recently had a stroke. While he is unconscious, on a dark and stormy night, a murder takes place in his bedroom. With family members and potential heirs confined to the house for several days, additional murders occur while the nurse and a police detective, a friend of hers from a past case, work on solving the case.

Themes

This novel was the second of the seven Eberhart books featuring nurse

as an amateur detective. Regarding other characters, historian Rick Cypert cites effete antagonist Eustace Federie as the first of thirty-six such instances of queer-coded villain characters in Eberhart's novels.

Publication history

The novel was first published in the United States by Doubleday, Doran & Company and in England by

William Heinemann William Henry Heinemann (18 May 1863 – 5 October 1920) was an English publisher of Jewish descent and the founder of the Heinemann publishing house in London. Early life On 18 May 1863, Heinemann was born in Surbiton, Surrey, England. Heine ...

. It was most recently available in paperback through the

University of Nebraska Press The University of Nebraska Press, also known as UNP, was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the Univer ...

in a 1995 edition that features an introduction by Jay Fultz.Mignon G. Eberhart (official site)
Accessed 24 December 2018.

References

{{reflist

External links

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' at Fantastic Fiction *
While the Patient Slept
' at

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1930 American novels American mystery novels American thriller novels American novels adapted into films Novels by Mignon G. Eberhart Doubleday, Doran books