The Haunted Lady by Mary Roberts Rinehart

The Haunted Lady by Mary Roberts Rinehart ISBN-13: 9781613161593 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: American Mystery Classics Released: April 7th 2020

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
The arsenic in her sugar bowl was wealthy widow Eliza Fairbanks’ first clue that somebody wanted her dead. The nightly plagues of bats, birds, and rats unleashed in her bedroom were the second indication, an obvious attempt to scare the life out of the delicate dowager. So instead of calling the exterminator, Eliza calls the cops, who send Hilda Adams — “Miss Pinkerton” — to go undercover and investigate.

Hilda Adams is a nurse, not a detective — at least, not technically speaking. But then, nurses do have the opportunity to see things that the police can’t, and to witness the inner workings of a household when the authorities aren’t around. From the moment Adams arrives at the Fairbanks mansion, she's confronted by a swarm of relatives whom seem desperate for their inheritance.


My Review:
The Haunted Lady is a mystery set in America that was originally published in 1942. It's a part of a series featuring Hilda, a nurse that helps out the police on cases, but it works as a standalone novel. The author had a very obvious way of pointing out clues using a "little did I know how important that would be…" style. Some things were easy to figure out because of this, but she left the clues open enough that basically anyone could have been the murderer until nearly the end. The person that I thought had acted the most suspiciously did turn out to be the murderer. A fun puzzle to sort through.

The characters were not really developed since the focus was on finding clues and solving the mystery. Hilda asked questions and poked around, observing the tiniest details. Hilda was likable, and the author kept telling us so. There was no sex. There was a fair amount of bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this mystery to those who like the type of styles that came out of this period.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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