''While the Patient Slept'' is a 1930 gothic mystery novel written by celebrated crime author Mignon G. Eberhart. It is the second book in her popular Sarah Keate series, featuring a sharp, red-haired traveling nurse who repeatedly stumbles into complex murder investigations. The novel was highly successful, winning the prestigious $5,000 Scotland Yard Prize, and was later adapted into a 1935 feature film by First National Pictures.
Nurse Sarah Keate arrives on a blustery winter day at the isolated, decaying Federie House mansion. She is hired to provide live-in care for the elderly Adolph Federie, who is comatose following a severe stroke. The mansion is filled with a creepy, untrustworthy group of family members and a sinister black cat named Genevieve.
A brutal murder is committed in the exact same room where her patient lies unconscious. Sarah teams up with local police detective Lance O'Leary to try to solve the crime before the killer strikes again.
