Mary C. Jane

In sunshine the old deserted house is a friendly landmark, and Gail even uses a shed on its grounds as a secret haven where she can write her poems. But by moonlight the house becomes eerie and terrifying. One night as Gail walks past it, a sudden sharp sound of knocking makes her whirl around. Someone seems to be trying to catch her attention, yet there is nothing but moonlit lawns and ghostly white walls to be seen. Where did that knocking sound have come from? And the weird voices – whose can...

Moody's Island, set like a jewel in Nine-Mile Marsh, is a valuable piece of property. When the widow who owns it dies and leaves the island to an absolute stranger, everybody wonders why. There is still one living relative, Clyde Moody, who was not even mentioned in the widow's will. Public opinion runs high in Clyde's favor, especially when incriminating rumors and evidence begins to mount against the new owner of the island who, after all, is not even a local Maine...

By Sunday evening Prue Tenney was despondent. She and the others in her class were supposed to write about something exciting that had happened over the weekend. All of her friends had either found an adventure or caused one to happen, but Prue had thought of nothing. Suddenly she remembered the one exciting event in her town – an unknown young man had been mysteriously shot eight years earlier. Although he was never identified, every year, on the anniversary of his death, someone placed red...

Only young Phil Holt suspects that the distinguished-looking Mr. Tate is looking for more than poetry in old Miss Goddard’s library. Miss Goddard thinks the self-styled poetry expert is charming. But Boz, the dog, takes an instant dislike to the elderly «scholar.» And Phil is sure he has seen Mr. Tate outside Miss Goddard’s house in the middle of the night, talking with a sinister stranger.<p> The unusual setting – Portland, Maine’s famous Longfellow Square – and the reality and appeal of...

Amy and Freddy Connors can&apos;t believe their ears when their Uncle Ken tells them he is going to stay in Mr. Sargent&apos;s big old house in Hidden Hollow all winter. And, when their father says that they can stay with Uncle Ken, they can&apos;t believe their luck. They can be near their friends, Marcia and Jim, and best of all, they won&apos;t have to stay in their father&apos;s trailer and be part of «that shiftless Connors tribe.» Mr. Sargent wants Ken to take care of his house and his...

When Janice and Tommy Brooks are invited to visit their Aunt Annabelle and her son Hubert at their new house in Maine near the Canadian border, they expect to have a wonderful summer. What they don’t expect is to hear galloping hoofbeats in a rock or to see an old man with a flickering light appear out of nowhere in the middle of a midnight storm. They don&apos;t expect to have a guest who creeps around the top floor when he thinks the family is asleep. And they never dream that they might get...

In Mystery Behind Dark Windows, a young girl tries to discover the source of mysterious sounds coming from her aunt’s deserted mill. <P> Acclaimed New England author Mary C. Jane (1909-1991) raised her two sons in Newcastle, Maine. Reading aloud to them sparked her interest in children’s literature. After the boys were grown, she returned to teaching, where she soon realized many reluctant readers could be encouraged to read with mysteries. In 1955, she wrote her first book, Mystery...

When Neale and Margie Lawson hear that their father will have to sell his shore land and their beloved horse, Firefly, they are miserable. They can find no way to help until a strange red car, a lost cat, and the odd behavior of an eccentric old man draw them into a mystery involving the lost letters of a famous New England artist.<P> The Lawsons and their friend Rupert Reed, son of the Ranger at the camp across the lake, are plunged into a bewildering tangle of strange doings. Neale...

A mongrel pup helps two children unmask a clever deception!<P> Kerry and Mark get a special excuse from school to spend ten days in Quebec with their father. From the moment they step into the hall of the rooming house where they are to stay, though, they have a sense of things not being quite right. Kerry hears sounds of crying; her sweater disappears and reappears in a mysterious manner. The children receive a strange communication, and the landlady behaves in a most unfriendly way. All...

A mongrel pup helps two children unmask a clever deception!<P> Kerry and Mark get a special excuse from school to spend ten days in Quebec with their father. From the moment they step into the hall of the rooming house where they are to stay, though, they have a sense of things not being quite right. Kerry hears sounds of crying; her sweater disappears and reappears in a mysterious manner. The children receive a strange communication, and the landlady behaves in a most unfriendly way. All...