While the Patient Slept by Mignon G. Eberhart

Sarah has been sent to a house that she is not already excited about as it is far out of town, meaning it won't be easy to leave during her four hour afternoon break. And the situation gets worse as the taxi taking her out to the house crashes and she meets the Federie family. As it is in many mysteries, the family is past eccentric and into downright strange. The family patriarch has had a stroke and everone is on edge.

There are the youngest generation, March, and Eustace Federie. Then there is the middle generation, Adolph Federie who makes a rude remark to Sarah and his wife Isobel. Three other friends are there, one of Eustace's, Deke Lonergan, one nameed Mittie Frisling, and one of the patriarch's, Mr. Dimmuck. Two servants make up the rest of the cast: the butler, Grondal, and the cook, Kema. 

On the first night, there are a quick succession of people who come to Sarah, asking her to alert them first when what's his face wakes up. But then, the murder happens. Luckily, it is Lance O'Leary, who Sarah already knows, who has come to help solve the crime. Too bad his presence isn't enough to prevent another murder. 

The story ends up being very convoluted and there is a strange amount of detail about March. 

Three stars

Sarah Keate #2

Follows The Patient in Room 18

Followed by The Mystery of Hunting's End

This book is being reissued February 3, 2026

ARC kindly provided by Penzler Publisher and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Golden Age Christmas Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler

A collection of stories by Otto Penzler, many of which I hadn't read before (and I read a lot of christmas mystery stories.) Most were taken from the Ellery Queen magazine and some have aged better than others; the writing was certainly different at the time many of them were written. Of course, one of them stars the detective himself. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 14, 2025

ARC kindly provided by Penzler Publishers and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Burning Court by John Dickson Carr

I picked this one up because I enjoy John Dickson Carr but I forgot how off the rails the solutions can be. The writing throughout most of the book is smooth and interesting. And it stays interesting but I don't think it's a solution that would be put out today. 

A publisher, Edward Stevens is reading a book on female murderers by a a reclusive author. He is astonished to see a picture that looks startlingly like his wife, down to the bracelet that she wears. But by the time he gets home, the picture is no longer in the manuscript. 

That concern is overshadowed by the fact that he is called because his friend believes that the friend's uncle, Miles Despard, was murdered. Stevens is skeptical because the idea had never been presented before. There WAS the testimony of the housekeeper that there was a woman dressed in old fashioned clothes who seemingly walked through a wall that has been covered up for over two hundred years. She has nothing to gain by saying that  and more evidence starts to mount. What actually happened?

Three stars

This book came out in 1937, reissued November 4, 2025

ARC kindly provided by Penzler Publishers and NetGalley

Opinions are my own