The room looked very cool in the afternoon light. A few bowls of white roses that were arranged about it seemed to lend it an aspect of more than usual specklessness. To Madame Querterot, a person of no taste, who made no pretension of being fastidious, and who had, moreover, little sympathy with a passion for cleanliness when this was carried to exaggeration, the airy lightness of the place suggested the convent school of her youthful days; and, bringing again before her the figure of a stern sister superior who had been accustomed in those vanished times to deal out severe penalties to the youthful but constantly erring Justine, caused her invariably to enter Mrs. Vanderstein’s bedroom after a quick intake of the breath on the threshold, as if she were about to plunge into an icy bath.

CHAPTER I A DELIGHTFUL MYSTERY "I think we are ready to start, girls." Miss Elting folded the road map that she had been studying and placed it in a pocket of her long dust coat. There was a half-smile on her face, a merry twinkle in her eyes. "Which way do I drive?" questioned Jane McCarthy. "Straight ahead out of the village," answered Miss Elting, the guardian of the party of young girls who were embarking on their summer's vacation under somewhat unusual circumstances. "It's the first time I ever started for a place without knowing what the place was, or where I was going," declared Jane McCarthy, otherwise known as "Crazy Jane." "Won't you pleathe tell uth where we are going?" lisped Grace Thompson. Miss Elting shook her head, with decision. "Do my father and mother know where we are going?" persisted Grace. "Of course they know, Tommy. The parents of each of you know, and I know, and so shall you after you reach your destination. Have you everything in the car, Jane?" "Everything but myself," nodded Jane. The latter's automobile, well loaded with camping equipment, stood awaiting its passengers. The latter were Miss Elting, Jane McCarthy, Harriet Burrell, Grace Thompson, Hazel Holland and Margery Brown, the party being otherwise known as "The Meadow-Brook Girls." "Get in, girls. We'll shake the dust of Meadow-Brook from our tires before you can count twenty," continued Jane. "If Crazy Jane were to drive through the town slowly folks surely would think something startling had happened to her. Is there anything you wish to do before we leave, Miss Elting?" "Not that I think of at the moment, Jane." "Oh, let's say good-bye to our folks," suggested Margery Brown. "I have thaid good-bye," answered Grace with finality. "We'll give them a farewell blast," chuckled Jane. With that she climbed into the car, and, with a honk of the horn, drove down that street and into the next, keeping the horn going almost continually. As they passed the home of each girl the young women gave the yell of the Meadow-Brook Girls: "Rah, rah, rah,Rah, rah, rah!Meadow-Brook, Meadow-Brook,Sis, boom, ah!" It was shouted in chorus at their homes, and as the car passed the homes of their friends as well. Hands were waved from windows, hats were swung in the air by boy friends, while the older people smiled indulgently and nodded to them as the rapidly moving motor car passed through the village. "I think the town knows all about it now. Suppose we make a start?" suggested Miss Elting. "We haven't therenaded the pothtmathter yet," Tommy reminded her. "Nor the butcher, the baker and the candle-stick maker," answered Harriet Burrell laughingly. "How long a drive have we, Miss Elting?" "Four or five hours, ordinarily. Jane undoubtedly will make it in much less time, if she drives at her usual rate of speed. Straight south, Jane. I will tell you when to change." The faces of the girls wore a puzzled expression. They could not imagine where they were going. Miss Elting had made a mystery of this summer vacation, and not a word had the girls been able to obtain from her as to where they were to go: whether to tour the country in Crazy Jane's automobile, or to go into camp. Tommy declared that it was a perfectly delightful mythtery, and that she didn't care where they were going, while Margery on the contrary, grumbled incessantly. The start had been made late in the afternoon. The day had been cloudy. There were even indications of rain, but the girls did not care. They were too well inured to the weather to be disturbed by lowering skies and threatening clouds. In the meantime Jane McCarthy was bowling along to the southward, throwing up a cloud of dust, having many narrow escapes from collisions with farmers' wagons and wandering stock....

This is a mystery book for children and their parents. The story involves five siblings who move into a house that's dissipated and looks haunted. Strange things begin to happen: muddy footprints on the porch, voices in the night, and a trapdoor to the attic that closed by itself. As they investigate these mysterious happenings,even greater danger lurks inside the red-brick house.This is a mystery involving five siblings: Jeanie, Ann, Liz, Ricky, and Neil. They move to a red-brick house that had been vacant for years. It is located on the back of a wooded lot with tall trees and an orchard, and surrounded by an iron picket fence with a rusty gate that squeaks and creaks when it's opened.The neighbor kids think the place is haunted because it's been vacant so long, the red bricks are chipped and cracked, and the yard is full of tall weeds. After Liz sees a strange man run from their basement to the orchard, Jeanie finds the trapdoor to the attic closed after it was left open, and they see muddy footprints that only went in one direction to the middle of the porch, they all become concerned.Their mother hires a housekeeper, Miss Briggs, who has beady eyes that get red and watery when she's provoked. Her eccentric behavior frightens the children. Voices from her room in the middle of the night disturbs Jeanie and Ann, and heightens their curiosity. Who was in there? How did the person get in? When Miss Briggs forbids their only friend, Cindy, from coming over,they suspect something bad is going to happen. But what?The children try to get Miss Briggs fired by complaining about her to their mother, who ignored their pleas. She thought they just didn't want to be supervised while she was gone. She learns eventually how wrong she was. As the mysterious happenings begin to make sense, Jeanie and Ann get Liz, Ricky and Neil involved, as well as their friend, Cindy, who lives in the big mansion across the street.

A spine-cilling tale of mystery and murder by one of America's most famous novelists, author of Great Lion of God. Home for Chirstmas - snow-laden trees, a blazing fire, carols around the piano...it all seemed so perfect.

Sophie Waters’ life was turned upside down when her mother passed away from cancer but the news her father and aunt delivered to her after the passing was far more devastating and unbelievable. ‘You’re a witch doctor, a healer, and you’re needed here to help protect the supernatural inhabitants of Mystery Springs.’ ‘Like hell,’ was her response but the moment the witches unlocked her powers there was no way she could deny the truth. And the moment she met her vampire prince there was no way she could leave Mystery Springs even if she wanted to. From the moment the powerful and terrifying Giovanni Mancuso spotted the spunky girl in ripped jeans, green cotton hoodie with her jet black hair in a ponytail and her green eyes covered by black cat glasses he was lost. She was not like the other girls that frequented his nightclub. She was different on so many levels. The moment his eyes connected with hers his soul knew she was important. She was his soul mate, his first love, a love lost centuries ago. Only she was different; stronger, powerful. Sophie and Giovanni explore their feelings while they attempt to uncover the secret behind acts of war on the supernatural people of Mystery Springs. Together they will face off against dream assassins, death, ghosts, gods, and their own families to save the small Colorado town and find a path back into the safety of each other’s arms. Past lives collide in this paranormal romance with mythological consequences. **Please note this is a new adult paranormal novel and contains adult subject matter of sexual nature and profanity.

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

A summer of love and mystery in the Hamptons draws to an end and Nancy will finally have to choose between Sasha, the handsome ballet star, and Ned, her longtime beau.

Leaving Imperial India in 1924, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes board the steamer Thomas Carlyle, bound for a holiday in Japan. But in short order, pleasure gives way to intrigue. First, a woman disappears from her cabin. Then Holmes spots a suspected blackmailer, a man richer in social connections than pounds sterling. And what to make of the surprisingly lithe, haiku-quoting Haruki Sato, the young Japanese woman who befriends Russell and tutors the couple in Japan's language and customs? Might Haruki not be who she claims? Detectives Holmes and Russell soon find themselves navigating the beautiful but dangerous imperial corridors of a politically unstable Japan - swept into a storm of international extortion, espionage, and shocking secrets. From the Imperial Palace in a quake-ravaged Tokyo to the dreaming spires of Oxford, Laurie R. King spins an utterly compelling, richly atmospheric tale of the ingenious Sherlock Holmes and the remarkable Mary Russell.

A dragon's fire cannot be tamed. In 22nd century sovereign America, women should be seen and not heard. Unfortunately, twenty-one-year-old CAITRIONA HAYDEN didn't get that memo! Determined to make her way in the world following the death of her uncle, being "seen" is the least of Cait's problems. Someone's trying to kill her. Ordained to guard and protect her, when Theo Pendragon claims Cait as his ward, he finds more than he expects as the flames of passion ignite within the dragon for the first time. But Theo is not alone in his desire, and he must learn to fight for what he wants, even if it costs him his best friend. Dante, a powerful demigod and beloved friend to Theo, has spent centuries pursuing intellectual endeavors rather than indulging in the heat of desire. But everything changes when Cait arouses an attraction he cannot deny. But Dante isn't the only one with a vested interest in Cait's future. America's monarch, an ancient vampire named Corrin, puts no stock in the frivolity of love, and yet a proper queen would boost his approval rating amongst the people. Marrying Cait could hold the key to his survival. Now, love, desire and need force Cait into an impossible situation with dire consequences. Soon, Cait goes from studying for college exams to fighting for a future she never knew she wanted with a man she never imagined she could love. But the key to her future is held in the one secret she has yet to uncover.

From the bestselling author of Savages (now an Oliver Stone film). As cool as its California surfer heroes, Don Winslow delivers a high velocity, darkly comic, and totally righteous crime novel. Every morning Boone Daniels catches waves with the other members of The Dawn Patrol: four men and one woman as single-minded about surfing as he is. Or nearly. They have "real j-o-b-s"; Boone, however, works as a PI just enough to keep himself afloat. But Boone's most recent gig-investigating an insurance scam—has unexpectedly led him to a ghost from his past. And while he may have to miss the biggest swell of his surfing career, this job is about to give him a wilder ride than anything he's ever encountered. Filled with killer waves and a coast line to break your heart, The Dawn Patrol will leave you gasping for air.

Note: This work also appears in the anthology, Murder Most Historical and Past Crimes: A Compendium of Historical Mysteries. London, 1880. Kat Holloway, highly sought-after young cook to the wealthy of London, finds herself embroiled in murder when she’s accused of poisoning her employer, the loathsome Sir Lionel Leigh-Bradbury. Her only help as she works to clear her name comes from the mysterious Daniel McAdam, a handsome man-of-all-work who seems to know everyone and always happens to be in the right place at the right time. Kat and Daniel investigate the crime, but the mystery of Daniel’s background might be just as elusive and dangerous as the poisoner bent on framing Kat for murder.

Early in the morning of Monday 8 July 1895, thirteen-year-old Robert Coombes and his twelve-year-old brother Nattie set out from their small, yellow-brick terraced house in East London to watch a cricket match at Lord's. Their father had gone to sea the previous Friday, the boys told their neighbours, and their mother was visiting her family in Liverpool. Over the next ten days Robert and Nattie spent extravagantly, pawning their parents' valuables to fund trips to the theatre and the seaside. But as the sun beat down on the Coombes house, a strange smell began to emanate from the building. When the police were finally called to investigate, the discovery they made sent the press into a frenzy of horror and alarm, and Robert and Nattie were swept up in a criminal trial that echoed the outrageous plots of the 'penny dreadful' novels that Robert loved to read. In The Wicked Boy, Kate Summerscale has uncovered a fascinating true story of murder and morality - it is not just a meticulous examination of a shocking Victorian case, but also a compelling account of its aftermath, and of man's capacity to overcome the past.

The Last Stroke: A Detective Story by Lawrence L. Lynch

Laura Lee Hope was a pen name used by a number of authors working for the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which put out the popular books about the Bobbsey Twins and several other series suitable for kids. This book is a Western adventure story that was popular among young children in the early 20th century.

The third and final book in the Echoes from the Edge trilogy by Bryan Davis.