Hilda Adams, AKA Miss Pinkerton, was one of the earliest nurse detectives. The creation of Mary Roberts Rinehart--who had studied to be a nurse in 1893--Hilda is a no-nonsense, attractive, thirty-something nurse: "Although I played a double game, no patient of mine had suffered. I was a nurse first and a police agent second" ("Locked Doors").

She begins working for the police at the behest of a hospitalized detective, George L. Patton, who is impressed by her clearheadedness and common sense. He asks, "Has it ever occurred to you that every crisis, practically, among the better classes finds a trained nurse on hand? ... The nurse gets it all--the intimate details that the police miss; the family disputes; the inner motives ..." ("The Buckled Bag"). Hilda agrees to go out on cases for the police and report on the secrets she learns.

Hilda Adams appeared in the several books and stories, four of which are collected in the omnibus volume Miss Pinkerton: Adventures of a Nurse Detective; the last was published with Rinehart's Episode of the Wandering Knife.

"The Buckled Bag," 1914
Recruited by a county detective, Hilda nurses the distraught mother of a twenty-year-old woman who mysteriously vanished. Then she just as mysteriously reappears, with a not-quite-believable story about her absence. [Audiocassette available at Amazon.com]

"Locked Doors," 1914
Hilda is employed to care for two young boys in a home shrouded by fear--a place from which the previous nurse fled in nervous terror. Admonished to keep the boys safe from danger, Hilda must discover just what the danger is. [Audiocassette available at Amazon.com]

Miss Pinkerton, 1932
When a young ne'er-do-well with hefty life insurance policies is found shot to death, Hilda and the police untangle a perplexing case that seems to show earmarks of both murder and suicide. [Available at Amazon.com]

Haunted Lady, 1942
A rich elderly woman enlists Hilda as a protector against an unknown person who is terrorizing her. Her stories of strange occurrences seem hard to believe--until Hilda finds the lady with a knife in her chest one night. [Available at Amazon.com]

[Omnibus volume available at Amazon.com]

The Secret, 1950
[Available at Amazon.com]

Movies

The estimable Miss Pinkerton also appeared in several movies.

Miss Pinkerton, 1932
Starring Joan Blondell and George Brent. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, 66 minutes, B&W. Based on the novel of the same name.

The Nurse's Secret, 1941
Starring Lee Patrick and Regis Toomey. Directed by Noel Smith, 65 minutes, B&W. Based on the novel Miss Pinkerton.

Related Web Sites

Beyond Bed Pans: The Life of a Late Nineteenth-Century Young Nurse

Rinehart's autobiographical account of her own nursing experiences.

Mary Roberts Rinehart

Biographical Material

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