The Hilda Adams Mysteries Series

A locked-room murder keeps a nurse-turned-sleuth on guard—and will “keep the reader . . . shivering and guessing” in this Golden Age mystery (The New York Times).   If the dissolute nephew of elderly Juliet Mitchell committed suicide, then why has the Homicide Squad enlisted the help of nurse Hilda Adams at the Mitchell mansion? Because Inspector Patton has his doubts about Herbert’s death—even though he died by gunshot in his locked bedroom. The services of the bureau’s indispensable sleuth, “Miss Pinkerton,” are twofold: to care for the traumatized and bedridden Juliet, and to find out who really pulled the trigger. But Hilda’s about to discover that the Mitchell family’s secrets are as dark as the shadows in the creaking old house, and that there’s a good reason why the servants seem gripped by an inexplicable fear. Now it’s up to Miss Pinkerton to solve the case, if she can survive the night.   Hailed by Carolyn Hart as a major influence, she salutes Rinehart as “the first author to write a humorous mystery with a female protagonist . . . a staple of crime fiction from then to now.” This witty whodunit by the Mystery Writers of America Special Award winner was the basis for the 1932 film starring Joan Blondell.  

Three tales from a mystery master whose “literary distinction lies in the combination of love, humor and murder that she wove into her tales” (The New York Times).   The Episode of the Wandering Knife: What’s a mother to do? When her daughter-in-law is slashed to death, the first thing is to hide the hunting knife that’s sure to implicate her innocent son. But it doesn’t stay hidden for long. It’s just turned up in a second victim, only to vanish once again. Whatever the cunning motive is for the ghastly crimes, the game of hide-and-seek with a deadly weapon is just beginning.   The Man Who Hid His Breakfast: A woman’s been found strangled in her bed. The only other person in the house is her daughter, Emma. Given Emma’s motive for wanting to escape the clutches of her domineering mother, the case seems open and shut. Except Inspector Tom Brent insists Emma couldn’t possibly have done it. His career depends on proving it. And it all starts with a very peculiar breakfast.   The Secret: Hilda Adams, the Homicide Bureau’s undercover “Miss Pinkerton,” is enlisted to investigate the odd behavior of Tony Rowland. The woman has suddenly broken off her engagement to a man she loves, crashed a car, and now keeps her elderly mother locked in her room. Does the Rowland family have reason to fear the neurotic woman? Or is Tony herself the one who’s afraid? If so, of what?  

A dowager is being scared to death in this classic whodunit by a #1 New York Times–bestselling master who “helped the mystery series grow up” (The New York Times).   It’s enough to stop Eliza Fairbanks’s heart. At least that’s what the elderly widow claims is being done to her. First, someone unleashes a cloud of bats in her locked bedroom. When that doesn’t do the trick, next comes a pack of rats to claw at her toes. Special duty nurse Hilda Adams, aka “Miss Pinkerton” to the Homicide Bureau, believes Eliza’s every rattled fear is true. She may be frail—but she’s not batty.   What Eliza is, is very, very rich. Out of the shady and oddball assortment of relatives swarming the mansion, someone clearly has an eye on the Fairbanks fortune. Now it’s Hilda’s job to keep an eye on Eliza before a potential killer resorts to more definitive means. And considering all the bad blood running through the heart of the Fairbanks family, it might already be too late to save her charge.  

#1 New York Times–Bestselling Author: Three witty whodunits from the Golden Age of mystery, featuring the crime-solving nurse nicknamed Miss Pinkerton . . . Miss Pinkerton A supposed suicide has the homicide squad suspicious, despite its locked-room location—so they ask nurse Hilda Adams to keep watch at the mansion while tending to the dead man’s bedridden aunt . . .    The Haunted Lady Elderly widow Eliza Fairbanks claims someone’s trying to scare her to death. First a cloud of bats is unleashed in her locked bedroom, but when that doesn’t do the trick a pack of rats arrives next. Special duty nurse Hilda Adams, a.k.a. “Miss Pinkerton,” believes Eliza may be frail, but she’s not batty. She is very, very rich, though, and among her assorted shady and oddball relatives one clearly has an eye on the Fairbanks fortune. . . . Episode of the Wandering Knife Hilda takes on the case of a young woman who broke off her engagement for no apparent reason—and tried to kill her mother while sleepwalking—in this novella accompanied by two bonus stories. Praise for Mary Roberts Rinehart, winner of a Mystery Writers of America Special Award: “The first author to write a humorous mystery with a female protagonist . . . A staple of crime fiction from then to now.” —Carolyn Hart “Fans of Agatha Christie will be pleased.” ?Booklist “[Rinehart’s] literary distinction lies in the combination of love, humor and murder that she wove into her tales . . . She helped the mystery story grow up.” ?The New York Times