Locked Doors (1932) by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Short read and review from me today and another adventure featuring Nurse Hilda Adams. This time she is called into an unusual case by her police acquaintance Inspector Patton, taking over from another nurse who after 4 days of replacing a governess, leaves her employer’s home a nervous wreck. It seems the client family have somewhat peculiar habits. They are servant-less, their telephone does not work and their children are not allowed to leave their room and they are locked in at night, and as what happens during the night… The dynamic between Patton and Adams is entertaining, with will they? won’t they? sparks flying between them at times. This is a story to be read for its Gothic thrills, (including a moving bodiless head covered with a monk like cowl), rather than as a properly clued mystery. I doubt the reader will guess the perfectly macabre solution to this mystery, but it is spine chillingly dramatic finding out.

Rating: 3.75/5

Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt Item (Silver Card): Nurse