A Nurse's Quest — Ruth McCarthy Sears

While vacationing in the historic California town of Monterey, Darcy Burnett accidentally ran into her old college roommate, Evie Wood, and Evie's handsome newspaperman brother, Paul. Raven-haired Darcy, just out of nursing school, was a little awed by the Woods, with their fabulous country mansion and immense fortune had always represented a glamorous world to which she, and orphan, could never hope to aspire. And Paul had always seemed her ideal -- exciting and unattainable.


But surprisingly, Darcy was suddenly called to Wood Manor as a private nurse for old Mrs. Wood, the family matriarch. And she soon found that her rambling dream palace was a nest of intrigue and danger. The family was divided by old and new feuds, that had already been several attempts on Mrs. Wood's life, and even now Darcy was certain that a murderer lurked somewhere in the shadows of the ancient house.

When someone tried to poison Mrs. Wood and kidnap her small grandson and heir, Darcy knew that the killer was desperate. To whom could she turn in this web of deception and evil? Could she trust attractive Amos Chandler, another young newsman? Or should she turn to Paul, sometimes distant, sometime too tantalizingly close for comfort?