The Patient in Room 18

There's more than one violent storm brewing at St. Ann’s hospital in the legendary Mignon Eberhart’s first book.

Nothing prepared nurse Sarah Keate for the murder of a wealthy patient in his hospital bed during a fierce thunderstorm. Was the killer’s motive the theft of the very expensive radium material in a device strapped to the patient's chest? Or was the patient another victim of the “curse” of Room 18—haunted by previous deaths under unusual circumstances? When detective Lance O'Leary is dispatched to investigate the deadly events at St. Ann’s, Nurse Keate joins forces with him to navigate the labyrinth of secrets, jealousies, and sinister motives, as the body count rises and her own safety hangs in the balance.

Eberhart’s innovative combination of Gothic horror with the inherent creepiness of a hospital served as a launching pad for both the Sarah Keate series and what turned out to be a remarkably productive career for the woman eventually dubbed “America’s Agatha Christie.”