This classic mystery "could rob at least one night's sleep. . . . The scene is laid in a hospital and the things that happen there are terrifying in the extreme" (The New York Times).
Nothing gets past the vigilance of Sarah Keate, head nurse on the third floor of Melady Memorial Hospital, a wing devoted to the wealthiest class of patients. Except one hot July night, she is startled to discover a patient has gone missing. And not just any patient, Peter Melady, grandson of the hospital's founder and head of the Melady Drug Company. During her frantic search, Nurse Keate stumbles upon the bloodied corpse of Dr. Harrigan, who was to perform the missing patient's surgery that very night.
It's a mystery as baffling as it is terrifying, made worse by the bumbling police officer on the case. Good thing the keen mind of Nurse Keate is gathering details, from the mad whispers heard moments before the murder to the antique Chinese snuff bottle Peter Melady demanded she retrieve before his disappearance. Nothing escapes Sarah's shrewd notice, not even the cold-blooded calculations of a killer.