I read the Miss Silver books by Patricia Wentworth a while back. They are set in the 1930s and 40s. Each book is full of myriad characters but there is always a hero, heroine, victim, murderer, gossip and a malingerer. The malingerers are always in bed, always ill with vague symptoms, always reaching for the smelling salts and always in need of sympathy from a devoted attendant. I'm sure Agatha Christie's works featured malingerers too. The Sarah Vaginas of this world have always existed and they always seem to revel in their fake symptoms.