The Shadow of the Needle — Lois A. Sunagel

Blonde Laurel Ashton and her dark-haired, former professional-football-playing brother, David, never knew their father well. He died when Laurel was ten, in the desert in Arizona. Their mother died of sorrow shortly afterward. With the death of their Aunt Beulah, some thirteen years later, they discover that their father has left them a house in Arizona and a treasure map.

David, encouraged and accompanied by his best friend, Barry Stark, with whom Laurel has been in love for years, rushes off to find the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine. Laurel hears nothing from them for ten days, but then finally receives a frantic call from Barry, who says that David is lost somewhere in the deadly Superstition Mountains.

Laurel journeys from her home in Ohio to join in the search. Tony Hutton, a handsome school-teacher-turned-prospector, offers his aid, but meets with a strange antagonism from Barry. Is Barry, who now suddenly professes his love for Laurel, merely jealous of this personable stranger, or is it something more? The police have closed their books on the case, but who killed the man who saw David after his disappearance?

Laurel's search for the answers to these questions leads her to discoveries about her past, and to danger, adventure and romance.