The Mystery of the McGilley Mansion — Florence Laughlin

The bright-eyed, eccentric little woman filed all the letters from the tax office away in the hollow newel post at the bottom of the staircase. Tod Hunter and Susan Brink (two young teenagers) enjoyed Mrs. McGilley; they saw her every day fishing off the California beach, strangely attired in an old pea jacket and high boots. When Mrs. Brink leaves for Washington, it is with some hesitancy that she leaves Tod and Susan to stay with Mrs. McGilley in the old mansion. The visit provides mystery,-- dark passageways, odd shadows, a heavy carved box -- and comedy- in the person of Mrs. McGilley, who squanders her meager fortune on exotic foods and in flings at the amusement park. A satisfying mixture of mystery and comedy is a rare find-- the author is to be commended for this amusing concoction, in which the characters are portrayed in a style which makes the odd happenings seem nearly plausible.