Miss Pinkerton

‘”You’re a brave young woman, Miss Pinkerton,” he said, “and you’re not going to quit on us now. Nor are we going to quit on you. Just remember that.”’

This is a re-release of a classic of American crime fiction. Originally published in 1932, Rinehart created one of the gems of crime novels in the figure of Nurse Hilda Adams, called into action by Inspector Patton to basically nosey about and help solve the crime. It is he who affectionately calls her Miss Pinkerton, after the famous detective agency. In this, the first full-length novel to feature her character, Nurse Adams is sent to the house of the elderly Juliet Mitchell, whose nephew Herbert Wynne has died in mysterious circumstances. It initially looks like show more suicide, but Patton raises the question that it could equally be murder, or even an accident, or a murder meant to look like an accident. As he and Adams investigate the plot starts to get more and more complex, the number of characters increases, and as the body count starts to mount it is a race against time to identify the killer…

Everything that you would expect from a crime novel of this time is here for the aficionado: a locked-room mystery, a heap of suspects, money and insurance scams, clues a-plenty, and, of course, our doughty heroine in peril as she stays at the mansion. This particular edition includes an interesting introduction from Carolyn Hart who identifies that Rinehart uses the Had-I-But-Known technique, in which the events are narrated from a perspective after it has all taken place, with Nurse Adams ramping up the tension with phrases like ‘if only I had known’ or ‘little did we realise at the time’. It works, as each event that happens seems to be explained only for the plot to become even more complex.

OK, it is of its time and the suspension of disbelief that we bring to classic crime fiction means you have to accept characters who are pretty two-dimensional – other than Adams and Patton, who Rinehart manages to flesh out in subtle ways – and a plot that, frankly, I would never have worked out in a million years. There is also an antiquated idea of the ‘little woman’ being in danger; Patten at one point replies to one of Nurse Adams’ theories: ‘Well, that comes of letting a woman in on a thing like this. She gets carried away by her emotions.’ Of course, the truth is that she is right all along, and he has to constantly apologise for not believing her!

I thoroughly enjoyed this period piece, and would definitely recommend it to fans of Golden Age crime and those want a good brain workout! A classic 3.5 stars. show less

Mystery queen Mary Roberts Rinehart penned dozens upon dozens of mysteries, and I’ve enjoyed nearly all that I’ve read. That includes Miss Pinkerton, the third in a series of hers that I didn’t know about.

Capable nurse Hilda Adams frequently works with the police in an undercover capacity; they arrange for her to nurse someone as part of a police investigation. In this case, Hilda nurses frail, old Juliet Mitchell in the wake of her ne’er-do-well nephew’s apparent suicide. Except that the police don’t think that young Herbert Wynne actually killed himself. Hilda’s extremely perceptive, so not much gets by her; in addition, she’s a great judge of character and has excellent instincts. Hilda’s a fabulous protagonist — show more enough that I ordered an omnibus edition with all five Hilda Adams mysteries.

Those new to the series needn’t worry about starting with No. 3 in the series; I’m new to the series, too, and enjoyed it just fine. Highly recommended. show less

Elderly Juliet Mitchell is the last scion of a decaying family that has seen better days. When she discovers her dissolute nephew Herbert shot to death in his room in the family’s crumbling old mansion, no one can figure out if it was suicide, murder, or an accident. Inspector Patton is assigned to the case, &—since Miss Juliet has received quite a shock—Patton calls in Nurse Adams to keep on eye on things for him within the sinister mansion. Everyone associated with the case is keeping secrets & refuses to tell the authorities what they know about the case. Everyone who knew Herbert disliked him, and no one seems to be genuinely mourning his death. Miss Juliet benefits greatly from Herbert’s death, but how could such a frail show more old lady commit such a brutal crime? When two more murders are committed & another two murders are attempted, it becomes apparent that a desperate criminal is on the loose. Will the inspector & Nurse Adams be able to unravel all of the clues before ‘Miss Pinkerton’ herself becomes a victim?

This mystery started off ok. Was the first death a murder, a suicide or an accident? Any one of those scenarios seems plausible, & there are a bunch of clues pointing in various directions to make the affair seem impossible to solve.

There is a healthy array of suspects from which to choose: the oily lawyer & his hussy of a secretary, the money-grubbing doctor, the poverty-stricken old aunt about to lose her home, the suspicious-looking butler & his wife, the mysterious young woman lurking about the grounds, not to mention the unknown people who have made several attempts on Herbert’s life over the past couple of months. As more suspects lie & dig themselves into deeper holes, & as more people get killed off, the mystery gets more & more interesting…until it doesn’t. I found that the longer this story dragged on, the more bored I became; by the time the solution to the crime was explained, I just wasn’t even remotely interested anymore.

And, although I think the author intended the reader to find the young lovers simply adorable, I just found them insufferably obnoxious.

Nurse Adams herself is a bit of a problem character, too. The police inspector considers her to be an indispensable secret-weapon of crime detection, but she doesn’t really do much except relay things she sees & overhears to the coppers—depending on her mood. Actually, Nurse Adams comes across as quite stupid and ineffectual a lot of the time; this is the 2nd novel I’ve read in which the patient she is supposedly guarding is killed right under her very nose! Maybe she should just go back to the hospital & stick to straight up nursing… show less

between 3 and 3.5 because this was an enjoyable read and the writing and characters are solid. but the plotting and resolution seemed a bit loose to me, and it ended kind of abruptly, leaving me a little confused about it all. there were also a handful of scenes that were put in just to ramp up the tension or danger, but weren't needed for the story. but in spite of that i'm actually mostly left with a feeling of "well that was fun and i liked reading about these characters" so even though a kind of important thing was muddled in this mystery, i still apparently really liked it.

this bit, about why someone didn't call the police, cracked me up: "...if Herbert had been murdered, she was convinced that it had been for good and sufficient show more reason." show less

I either ADORE MRR's mysteries or find them dull; Miss Pinkerton mysteries are GREAT!

99. Miss Pinkerton by Mary Roberts Rinehart (read spring of 1942) When I read this book I was eager to read any Rinehart book I could find.