A Brook in the Parlor — Jean Carew

Murmuring Pines, in the town of Pine Ridge in the Catskills, was Paul Preston's dream house. But his neighbors looked somewhat askance at the eccentric dwelling with the tree and the brook in the living room. And when he died and left the house to his niece, Travis Preston, with the proviso that she live there for at least two months and also complete a certain strip of ceramic tiles in the parlor, the heiress was more bemused than thrilled.

As volunteer assistants in solving the mystery of the tiles -- the manual work had to be don solely by Travis -- she had her uncle's lawyer and a suitor who came up from New York to keep her company. But they were as baffled as she when the tiles spelled out childish jingles about turkeys, rabbits and elephants.