The Mystery of Fyfe House — Virginia Nielsen

At this time, Mary Tollar had been too young to understand or to question why Harry “Reverend” Axtell had rescued her from the life of an orphan, delivering her into the hands of Mrs. Abigail Fyfe, aged mistress of an old mansion called Fyfe House. And shortly afterward, the arrangement had been secured when Mrs. Fyfe married Harry Axtell.

Through the years Mary had become used to the seclusion that Mrs. Fyfe -- she refused to use her new husband's name -- imposed upon herself, though it was always bitter to see how the old woman avoided both Mary and “Reverend.” And now “Reverend” was dead, that gentle, unassuming man who had been Mary's protector and whose privately printed newspaper of homespun philosophy and earned him the sobriquet “Reverend” in local circles.

It was after “Reverend's” funeral -- which Mrs. Fyfe did not attend -- that Mary was summoned to the tower room where the old lady kept herself. There Mary was cruelly told to get out of the house that had been her home for years. It was insult added to injury when, from her great wealth, Mrs. Fyfe handed Mary fifty dollars with which to begin her own life.

Both confused and angry, Mary left the next morning -- only to be apprehended hours later by the police. Sometime during the night, old Mrs. Fyfe had been murdered. In short order Mary learned that she was the only suspect.

Baffled now, and frightened, Mary could rely only on the forces of justice to save her -- and on Juanita, Mrs. Fyfe's frightened housekeeper, and Don Earl, the vagabond artist Mary had met on her flight from Fyfe House.