Miss Pinkerton (American Mystery Classics)

Miss Pinkerton (American Mystery Classics) by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Miss Adams is a nurse, not a detective -- at least, not technically speaking. But while working as a nurse, one can see things police can't see. An observant set of eyes can be quite an asset when crimes happen behind closed doors, so sometimes Detective Inspector Patton rings Miss Adams when he needs an agent on the inside. And when he does, he calls her "Miss Pinkerton" after the famous detective agency.

Everyone agrees that mild-mannered Herbert Wynne wasn't the type to commit suicide but, after he is found shot dead, with the only other possible killer being his ailing, bedridden aunt, no other explanation makes sense. With the elderly woman left uncared for at her grand estate, Patton sees the perfect opportunity to employ Miss Pinkerton's abilities. But when the sleuthing nurse arrives at the mansion to ply her trade, she finds more intrigue than anyone outside could have imagined and -- when she realizes a killer is on the loose -- more terror as well.

At once a suspenseful tale and a puzzling mystery, Miss Pinkerton served as the basis for the 1932 film of the same name; its titular character appeared in several other of Rinehart's popular novels.

Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876 - 1958) was America's most beloved and best-selling mystery writer in the first half of the twentieth century.