Mignon G. Eberhart
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Mignon Good Eberhart (July 6, 1899,
Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...
– October 8, 1996,
Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...
) was an American
author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
of
mystery novel Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a re ...
s. She had one of the longest careers (from the 1920s to the 1980s) among major American mystery writers.


Early life

Mignonette Good was born July 6, 1899, in
Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...
. As a teenager, Good often wrote short stories and novels to occupy herself. From 1917 to 1920, she attended
Nebraska Wesleyan University Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU) is a private Methodist-affiliated university in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was founded in 1887 by Nebraska Methodists. As of 2017, it had approximately 2,100 students, including 1,500 full-time students and 300 ...
but did not complete the coursework for a degree. In 1923, she married Alanson Clyde Eberhart, and began writing short stories to combat boredom. Within several years, she had begun writing novels. In 1929, she published her first novel, ''The Patient in Room 18'', which introduced her series character Nurse
Sarah Keate Sarah Keate is a fictional character, the protagonist in a series of medical mystery novels by American author Mignon G. Eberhart. Overview Keate, a nurse with a talent for solving crimes, was introduced in Eberhart's debut novel, '' The Patien ...
and her boyfriend Detective Lance O'Leary. A second novel, ''While the Patient Slept'', also featuring Keate, received the $5000 Scotland Yard Prize in 1931. Four years later, Eberhart's
alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...
presented her with an honorary doctorate.


Career

By the end of the 1930s, Eberhart had become the leading female crime novelist in the United States and was one of the highest-paid female crime novelists in the world, next to Agatha Christie. She was one of the first of many writers called, by their publishers, "America's Agatha Christie," few of which had as little in common with 'Dame Agatha in matters of plotting, characterization, or even type of story.' She wrote a total of 59 novels, the last published in 1988, shortly before her 89th birthday. Eight of her novels were adapted as movies, beginning in 1935 with ''
While the Patient Slept ''While'' is a word in the English language that functions both as a noun and as a subordinating conjunction. Its meaning varies largely based on its intended function, position in the phrase and even the writer or speaker's regional dialect ...
.'' The last adaptation, based on the book ''Hasty Wedding'', was the movie ''
Three's a Crowd ''Three's a Crowd'' (also known as ''Three's Company, Too'' in the ''Three's Company'' syndication package) is an American sitcom television series produced as a spin-off sequel and continuation of '' Three's Company'' that aired on ABC from ...
'', released in 1945. She also collaborated with Robert Wallsten to adapt her novel ''Fair Warning'' into the play, ''Eight O'Clock Tuesday'', which played first at the Cleveland Playhouse in Ohio in 1939–40, and then on Broadway in 1941, starring
Celeste Holm Celeste Holm (April 29, 1917 – July 15, 2012) was an American actress. Holm won an Academy Award for her performance in Elia Kazan's '' Gentleman's Agreement'' (1947), and was nominated for her roles in '' Come to the Stable'' (1949) and ''A ...
.Social Networks and Archival Context Cooperative https://snaccooperative.org/vocab_administrator/resources/7541567 Sarah Keate, though popular as the protagonist of Eberhart's first five novels, proved to be the author's only series sleuth, making only a couple of appearances after the early 1930s. Instead, Eberhart wrote mostly "standalone" mysteries, something fairly unusual for a crime writer with such a large output. Eberhart was one of the more prolific of the practitioners of the classic romantic suspense novel that had begun with some of the earliest work of
Anna Katharine Green Anna Katharine Green (November 11, 1846 – April 11, 1935) was an American poet and novelist. She was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories. Green ...
and was brought to its height by
Mary Roberts Rinehart Mary Roberts Rinehart (August 12, 1876September 22, 1958) was an American writer, often called the American Agatha Christie.Keating, H.R.F., ''The Bedside Companion to Crime''. New York: Mysterious Press, 1989, p. 170. Rinehart published her fi ...
in the early 20th century. There had been many female sleuths featured in short stories previously, and Rinehart had introduced her own nurse-detective, Hilda Adams, aka "Miss Pinkerton," in the second decade of the 20th century. But in 1929, when Eberhart introduced Sarah Keate, it was still relatively rare to have a female lead in novel-length "straight detective stories". The year after Eberhart's first novel was published,
Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...
wrote the first novel featuring her female detective, Jane Marple, who had previously appeared in short stories collected as "The Tuesday Club Murders".


Style and reception

Eberhart's works often featured female protagonists, and tended to include exotic locations, wealthy characters, and suspense and romance. Her characterization has been praised, her characters described as always having "genuine and believable motives for everything they do." Her "writing is spare but almost lyrical." In 1971, she was awarded the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award. Eberhart also served as president of the
Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the E ...
. In 1994, she received the
Agatha Award The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short ...
: Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievement.


Personal life

The normally prolific Eberhart wrote relatively few books in the 1940s, possibly due to upheaval in her personal life. After 20 years of marriage, she divorced Alanson Eberhart, and in 1946 married John Hazen Perry. But within two years, she had divorced Perry and remarried Eberhart. The Eberharts remained married until his death in 1974. Eberhart died in 1996. She is buried in
Long Island National Cemetery Long Island National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in Suffolk County, New York. It is surrounded by a group of other separate cemeteries and memorial parks situated along Wellwood Avenue (County Road 3) – these include P ...
, a
Veterans Administration The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...
burial site, beside husband Alanson, who had served as a Navy lieutenant commander in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. In 2007, a posthumous collection of her short stories, ''Dead Yesterday and Other Stories'', was edited by Rick Cypert and Kirby McCauley and published by
Crippen & Landru Crippen & Landru Publishers is a small publisher of mystery fiction collections, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1994 by husband and wife Sandi and Douglas G. Greene in Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an indepen ...
.


Novels


Sarah Keate Sarah Keate is a fictional character, the protagonist in a series of medical mystery novels by American author Mignon G. Eberhart. Overview Keate, a nurse with a talent for solving crimes, was introduced in Eberhart's debut novel, '' The Patien ...
series

*'' The Patient in Room 18'' (1929) filmed in 1938 *''
While the Patient Slept ''While'' is a word in the English language that functions both as a noun and as a subordinating conjunction. Its meaning varies largely based on its intended function, position in the phrase and even the writer or speaker's regional dialect ...
'' (1930) filmed in 1935 *''The Mystery of Hunting's End'' (1930) filmed in 1938 *''From This Dark Stairway'' (1931) filmed in 1938 *'' Murder by an Aristocrat'' (1932) aka ''Murder of My Patient'' filmed in 1936 *''
Wolf in Man's Clothing ''Wolf in Man's Clothing'' is a mystery novel by Mignon G. Eberhart. It was published by Random House in 1942 and issued in the UK by Collins Crime Club the following year. It was reissued by Bison Books in 1996. This sixth novel featuring nu ...
'' (1942) *''Man Missing'' (1954)


Standalone novels

*'' The White Cockatoo'' (1933) filmed in 1935 *'' The Dark Garden'' (1933) aka ''Death in the Fog'' *'' The Cases of Susan Dare'' (1934) *'' The House on the Roof'' (1935) *'' Fair Warning'' (1936) *'' Danger in the Dark'' (1937) aka ''Hand in Glove'' *''
The Pattern ''The'' is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the ...
'' (1937) *'' The Glass Slipper'' (1938) *'' Hasty Wedding'' (1938) *'' The Chiffon Scarf'' (1939) *'' Brief Return'' (1939) *'' The Hangman's Whip'' (1940) *''
Speak No Evil Speak No Evil is a phrase from the " see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" adage. It may refer to: Film * ''Speak No Evil'' (2013 film), an American horror film * ''Speak No Evil'' (2022 film), a Danish-Dutch psychological thriller film * '' ...
'' (1941) *'' With This Ring'' (1941) *''Fourth Mystery Book'' (1942) *'' The Man Next Door'' (1943) *''Unidentified Woman'' (1943) *''
Escape the Night ''Escape the Night'' is an American reality television web series that documents vlogger Joey Graceffa inviting his friends for dinner, who are then trapped in dark fantasy plots based on horror and murder mystery aesthetics. Graceffa serves ...
'' (1944) *'' Wings of Fear'' (1945) *'' Five Passengers from Lisbon'' (1946) *''
The White Dress ''The White Dress'' is a standalone murder mystery novel by Mignon G. Eberhart published by Random House in 1945. It was reprinted as a mass market paperback in July, 1976, by Popular Library, and again in 1997 by Thorndike Press. Referenc ...
'' (1946) *'' Another Woman's House'' (1947) *'' House of Storm'' (1949) *'' Hunt With the Hounds'' (1950) *'' Never Look Back'' (1951) *'' Dead Men's Plans'' (1952) *'' The Unknown Quantity'' (1953) *'' Postmark Murder'' (1955) *'' Another Man's Murder'' (1957) *'' Melora'' (1959) aka ''The Promise of Murder'' (1961, 1966) *''Jury of One'' (1960) *''The Cup, the Blade or the Gun'' (1961) aka ''The Crime at Honotassa'' *'' Enemy in the House'' (1962) *''Run Scared'' (1963) *''Call After Midnight'' (1964) *''R.S.V.P. Murder'' (1965) *''Witness at Large'' (1966) *''Woman on the Roof'' (1967) *''Message from Hong Kong'' (1969) *''El Rancho Rio'' (1970) *''Two Little Rich Girls'' (1971) *''Murder in Waiting'' (1973) *''Nine O'Clock Tide'' (1975) *''Danger Money'' (1975) *''Family Fortune'' (1976) *''Bayou Road'' (1979) *''Casa Madrone'' (1980) *''Family Affair'' (1981) *''Next of Kin'' (1982) *''The Patient in Cabin C'' (1983) *''Alpine Condo Crossfire'' (1984) *''A Fighting Chance'' (1986) *''Three Days for Emeralds'' (1988)


Short stories

*''The Cases of Susan Dare'' (anthology, 1934) *''Deadly is the Diamond'' (anthology, 1958)


Film adaptations


References


Further reading

*Cypert, Rick. ''America's Agatha Christie''. Susquehanna University Press.


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eberhart, Mignon G. 1899 births 1996 deaths American mystery novelists 20th-century American novelists Burials at Long Island National Cemetery Writers from Lincoln, Nebraska Nebraska Wesleyan University alumni Agatha Award winners Edgar Award winners American women novelists American women mystery writers 20th-century American women writers Writers of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction