The Amethyst Quest — Lois A. Sunagel

If only Elinor Bowen hadn't broken her leg... Looking back, it seemed to auburn-tressed Ellie that all her troubles had started when she slipped on the staircase and tumbled over backward while rushing to prepare for her summer vacation in Nova Scotia.

As a result her father had gone on the trip alone, leaving Ellie in the capable hands of Minerva, who had been with the family for as long as Ellie could remember. Brice Bowen was a geologist, and Ellie had encouraged his nascent interest in the fossils and amethyst quartz of Nova Scotia. It was the first time he had displayed enthusiasm about anything since the death of Ellie's mother.

When Brice Bowen returned from the trip, he excitedly announced that he had put a down payment on an old inn near Parrsboro. And when the manager of the inn died suddenly the following spring, Mr. Bowen took a few months' leave from his job to assume the management of Amethyst Inn with Minerva's help.

Now Ellie's father had disappeared--seemingly vanished into thin air--and so had Minerva. Arriving at the inn after a harrowing journey, Ellie was impressed by the grandeur of the white clapboard structure perched close to the sheer-cliffed coastline. But she was wary of its clientele, any of whom could be responsible for her father's disappearance. Ultimately Ellie decided to trust redhead Jeremy McIvers, hoping against hope that her intuition had not betrayed her.