Category Archives: Mystery

336F: Children Find Fine Art

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This was a 90’s children’s mystery novel that I read as a 3rd or 4th grader in 1996 or so. It was an un-illustrated chapter book. I can’t remember much else about the plot other than the characters were sorting out someone’s estate and found a very fine piece of stained glass art (lamp, vase or pitcher perhaps). The author did an excellent job describing the art – that’s what all my friends and I loved about the book. I also remember at the end of the book they are able to see all of the other pieces of the art collection that belonged with it.

335W: Luton Cabbie Mystery (Solved!)

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Mid-1990s to mid-2000’s publication date, more likely 1998-2003. Mystery novel set in Luton, England. Protagonist is black cabdriver of West Indian/Caribbean origin. Unfortunately, I can’t recall the mystery he gets involved in. I liked the author’s portrayal of an overlooked airport town, the character and the look into his culture. Although I read a lot of British mysteries, this one’s setting was unusual and the mood of it has stayed with me. I have wondered if it was part of a series or a one-off.

 

334V: Mystery series probably published 1940-1970 (Solved!)

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I do not know the name of any of the books in the series, but I can describe at least one of the covers. Our library had 4 books but there may have been more. All of the books had a deep purple cover. One had a mansion or haunted house on top of a hill or cliff. For some reason murder mansion, Whispering Hill, sticks in my head. I believe there were 2 or 3 kids and one had an odd name. Definitely not the more prolific series, Three Investigators, Hardy Boys, etc. The books were hardcover and not very thick, 70-80 pages and meant for grades 3-6. I hope you can find the series I am looking for.

332Y: The Figure In The Shadows (Solved!)

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So here’s what I have:  I have very few details about this book. Read in late 1970’s-1980 (no later than 1980, but believe to be earlier).  Book (paperback) was a gift so I think it could be earlier than 1970s.  Geared toward 10-12 year olds.  Category: suspense, supernatural or mystery.

In the beginning of the book a boy (think it’s a boy, could be girl) is walking down the street when a newspaper or flyer wraps around his leg.  He looks at it and reads the word veni in Latin (I come or I am coming) and smells wet ashes.  Later in the book the figure/ghost is beckoning him to jump in a well (?) or off a cliff – he’s saved by someone, but that’s all I remember.  Hope you can help.

Edit: The author of this post found the title of the book before I got around to posting their Stumper: The Figure in the Shadows!

327L: Sort of like the Boxcar Children but in ancient Rome (or was it Greece?) (Solved!)

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I read it in the 1970s, probably published then or perhaps in the late '60s. A young boy (maybe 10 or 11) and his older sister (young teenager?) from a noble family become embroiled in a mystery and they run around town (possibly Athens, but I think it was ancient Rome) hunting for clues.  They wear togas. 🙂

325Y: Boy Spends Summer At Beach Solving Mystery

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I believe this book is for middle grade and from the 1970s or before. It is about a boy who spends the summer away from home, near the ocean or on an island. The first night there, he see someone using Morse code to spell out his name. Later, he learns it is another boy who wants to be friends. (They become friends.) There is some type of mystery to be solved and a man (maybe a relative?) tries to kill the boy at the end of the book. There are caves or some kind of natural phenomenon where at the right tide, the wind/water rushes through, sounding like ghosts moaning. When the man is after him, the boy has to face his fear and enter the caves to escape.

325C: The sea, New England, disappearances. . .

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I am looking for a book that I had started many years ago as a tween but have since forgotten the title. I never finished it, but what I can remember was that it had a dark (possibly black) cover. In terms of plot I believe it had something to do with mysterious disappearances, where people where inexplicably called or lured into the sea and never seen again. I believe it was set in New England in a coastal town. It would have been a hardcover around the time of 2000-2005. I think there was something about a man and his father having gone into the ocean. Maybe a sea monster? I didn’t get far enough into the story to figure out why the people were disappearing. I believe it was a book for adults. I don’t think it was part of a series. The time period was modern. I don’t know if it was mystery or horror, as I never finished it. I think it might’ve been classified as mystery. I don’t think it was a young adult book and I believe it had a male author

324S: Haunted House Mystery; Culprit Is A Pet Frog

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This was a book on cassette – it may have had an accompanying read along book.  I checked it out from the library all the time in the mid to late 90’s.

There was a group of kid detectives who were asked in to investigate strange noises in an old house and prove it wasn’t haunted. There was a sick, bedridden boy visiting the owner of the house. After investigating, the detectives found that the sick boy had a secret pet frog that was causing the spooky sounds. The sick boy might have been visiting from a different country.

324L: A Hidden Room Mystery Story (Solved!)

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1960’s-1970’s YA mystery short story–people search a castle for a missing keep or room wherein may be hidden a fortune.  Many people search.  They decide to put a cloth in each window as they search; then they can see from the outside which window has no cloth and is therefore the hidden room.  The story is possibly from one of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents Anthologies. It certainly had that feel.   Although many others are searching this castle for a missing keep or a room in a keep, only one person finds it.  There is some sort of secret entrance, I recall.  When the finder discovers the entrance and room, another character (the bad guy) goes with him and murders him there and “hides” the secret entrance to the room again.

 I recall (or believe I recall) a line at the end—part of the thoughts of the skeptical castle groundskeeper, I think– “there was no Norman keep.”