Table of Contents
COPYRIGHT INFO
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
THE MEGAPACK SERIES
THE MARY LOUSE GAY, GIRL DETECTIVE SERIES
THE MYSTERY AT DARK CEDARS, by Edith Lavell
THE MYSTERY OF THE FIRES, by Edith Lavell
THE MYSTERY OF THE SECRET BAND, by Edith Lavell
THE MYSTERY STORIES FOR GIRLS SERIES, by Roy Snell
THE BLUE ENVELOPE, by Roy Snell
THE CRUISE OF THE O MOO, by Roy Snell
THE SECRET MARK, by Roy Snell
PURPLE FLAME, by Roy Snell
THE CRIMSON THREAD, by Roy Snell
THE SILENT ALARM, by Roy Snell
WITCHES COVE, by Roy Snell
THE MAGIC CURTAIN, by Roy Snell
THE ARDEN BLAKE MYSTERY SERIES, by Cleo F. Garis
THE ORCHARD SECRET, by Cleo F. Garis
MYSTERY OF JOCKEY HOLLOW, by Cleo F. Garis
MISSING AT MARSHLANDS, by Cleo F. Garis
THE PENNY NICHOLS SERIES, by Mildred A. Wirt
PENNY NICHOLS FINDS A CLUE, by Mildred A. Wirt
PENNY NICHOLS AND THE MYSTERY OF THE LOST KEY, by Mildred A. Wirt
PENNY NICHOLS AND THE BLACK IMP, by Mildred A. Wirt
PENNY NICHOLS AND THE KNOB HILL MYSTERY, by Mildred A. Wirt
THE MADGE STERLING SERIES, by Mildred A. Wirt
THE MISSING FORMULA, by Mildred A. Wirt
THE DESERTED YACHT, by Mildred A. Wirt
THE SECRET OF THE SUNDIAL, by Mildred A. Wirt
BOBS, A GIRL DETECTIVE, by Grace May North
THE PHANTOM TOWN MYSTERY, by Carol Norton
THE SEVEN SLEUTHS CLUB, by Carol Norton
THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS SOLVE A MYSTERY, by Hildegard G. Frey
Contents
COPYRIGHT INFO
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
THE MEGAPACK SERIES
THE MARY LOUSE GAY, GIRL DETECTIVE SERIES
THE MYSTERY AT DARK CEDARS, by Edith Lavell
THE MYSTERY OF THE FIRES, by Edith Lavell
THE MYSTERY OF THE SECRET BAND, by Edith Lavell
THE MYSTERY STORIES FOR GIRLS SERIES, by Roy Snell
THE BLUE ENVELOPE, by Roy Snell
THE CRUISE OF THE O MOO, by Roy Snell
THE SECRET MARK, by Roy Snell
PURPLE FLAME, by Roy Snell
THE CRIMSON THREAD, by Roy Snell
THE SILENT ALARM, by Roy Snell
WITCHES COVE, by Roy Snell
THE MAGIC CURTAIN, by Roy Snell
THE ARDEN BLAKE MYSTERY SERIES, by Cleo F. Garis
THE ORCHARD SECRET, by Cleo F. Garis
MYSTERY OF JOCKEY HOLLOW, by Cleo F. Garis
MISSING AT MARSHLANDS, by Cleo F. Garis
THE PENNY NICHOLS SERIES, by Mildred A. Wirt
PENNY NICHOLS FINDS A CLUE, by Mildred A. Wirt
PENNY NICHOLS AND THE MYSTERY OF THE LOST KEY, by Mildred A. Wirt
PENNY NICHOLS AND THE BLACK IMP, by Mildred A. Wirt
PENNY NICHOLS AND THE KNOB HILL MYSTERY, by Mildred A. Wirt
THE MADGE STERLING SERIES, by Mildred A. Wirt
THE MISSING FORMULA, by Mildred A. Wirt
THE DESERTED YACHT, by Mildred A. Wirt
THE SECRET OF THE SUNDIAL, by Mildred A. Wirt
BOBS, A GIRL DETECTIVE, by Grace May North
THE PHANTOM TOWN MYSTERY, by Carol Norton
THE SEVEN SLEUTHS CLUB, by Carol Norton
THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS SOLVE A MYSTERY, by Hildegard G. Frey
COPYRIGHT INFO
The Girl Detectives Megapack is copyright © 2013 by Wildside Press LLC. All rights reserved. For more information, contact the publisher.
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
For The Girl Detectives Megapack, we have standardized (and, where appropriate, modernized) spelling and usage. For example, words like “bowlder” have been uniformly changed to “boulder,” “boola balls” to “bola balls,” etc.
As with much fiction of the period, there is some dialog written out in dialect, and it’s not always politically correct. These books are products of a different time, when standards varied from what they are today. Please read it with that in mind.
—John Betancourt
Publisher, Wildside Press LLC
www.wildsidepress.com
THE MEGAPACK SERIES
Over the last few years, our “Megapack” series of ebook anthologies has proved to be one of our most popular endeavors. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”
The Megapacks (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt, Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!).
A NOTE FOR KINDLE READERS
The Kindle versions of our Megapacks employ active tables of contents for easy navigation…please look for one before writing reviews on Amazon that complain about the lack! (They are sometimes at the ends of ebooks, depending on your reader.)
RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?
Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the Megapack series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).
Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.
TYPOS
Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.
If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at wildsidepress@yahoo.com or use the message boards above.
THE MEGAPACK SERIES
MYSTERY
The Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The Charlie Chan Megapack
The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective Megapack
The Detective Megapack
The Father Brown Megapack
The Jacques Futrelle Megapack
The Anna Katharine Green Mystery Megapack
The First Mystery Megapack
The Penny Parker Megapack
The Pulp Fiction Megapack
The Raffles Megapack
The Victorian Mystery Megapack
The Wilkie Collins Megapack
GENERAL INTEREST
The Adventure Megapack
The Baseball Megapack
The Christmas Megapack
The Second Christmas Megapack
The Classic American Short Stories Megapack
The Classic Humor Megapack
The Military Megapack
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
The Edward Bellamy Megapack
The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack
The Philip K. Dick Megapack
The Randall Garrett Megapack
The Second Randall Garrett Megapack
The Murray Leinster Megapack
The Second Murray Leinster Megapack
The Martian Megapack
The Andre Norton Megapack
The H. Beam Piper Megapack
The Pulp Fiction
Megapack
The Mack Reynolds Megapack
The First Science Fiction Megapack
The Second Science Fiction Megapack
The Third Science Fiction Megapack
The Fourth Science Fiction Megapack
The Fifth Science Fiction Megapack
The Sixth Science Fiction Megapack
The Robert Sheckley Megapack
The Steampunk Megapack
The Time Travel Megapack
The Wizard of Oz Megapack
HORROR
The Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The E.F. Benson Megapack
The Second E.F. Benson Megapack
The Cthulhu Mythos Megapack
The Ghost Story Megapack
The Second Ghost Story Megapack
The Third Ghost Story Megapack
The Horror Megapack
The M.R. James Megapack
The Macabre Megapack
The Second Macabre Megapack
The Mummy Megapack
The Vampire Megapack
The Werewolf Megapack
WESTERNS
The B.M. Bower Megapack
The Max Brand Megapack
The Buffalo Bill Megapack
The Cowboy Megapack
The Zane Grey Megapack
The Western Megapack
The Second Western Megapack
The Wizard of Oz Megapack
YOUNG ADULT
The Boys’ Adventure Megapack
The Dan Carter, Cub Scout Megapack
The G.A. Henty Megapack
The Penny Parker Megapack
The Pinocchio Megapack
The Rover Boys Megapack
The Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Megapack
The Tom Swift Megapack
AUTHOR MEGAPACKS
The Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The Edward Bellamy Megapack
The B.M. Bower Megapack
The E.F. Benson Megapack
The Second E.F. Benson Megapack
The Max Brand Megapack
The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack
The Wilkie Collins Megapack
The Philip K. Dick Megapack
The Jacques Futrelle Megapack
The Randall Garrett Megapack
The Anna Katharine Green Megapack
The Zane Grey Megapack
The Second Randall Garrett Megapack
The M.R. James Megapack
The Murray Leinster Megapack
The Second Murray Leinster Megapack
The Andre Norton Megapack
The H. Beam Piper Megapack
The Mack Reynolds Megapack
The Rafael Sabatini Megapack
The Saki Megapack
The Robert Sheckley Megapack
OTHER COLLECTIONS YOU MAY ENJOY
The Great Book of Wonder, by Lord Dunsany (it should have been called “The Lord Dunsany Megapack”)
The Wildside Book of Fantasy
The Wildside Book of Science Fiction
Yondering: The First Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
To the Stars—And Beyond! The Second Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
Once Upon a Future: The Third Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
Whodunit?—The First Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories
More Whodunits—The Second Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories
X is for Xmas: Christmas Mysteries
THE MARY LOUSE GAY, GIRL DETECTIVE SERIES
This short (3-volume) series by Edith Lavell consists of:
The Mystery at Dark Cedars (1935)
The Mystery of the Fires (1935)
The Mystery of the Secret Band (1935)
THE MYSTERY AT DARK CEDARS, by Edith Lavell
CHARACTERS
Mary Louise Gay a girl detective.
Jane Patterson her chum.
Miss Mattie Grant spinster at Dark Cedars.
Elsie Grant orphan, niece of Miss Grant, living at Dark Cedars.
Mrs. Grace Grant sister-in-law to Miss Grant.
family of Mrs. Grace Grant.
John Grant middle-aged bachelor
Harry Grant younger bachelor
Ellen Grant Pearson married daughter
Corinne Pearson granddaughter, girl of nineteen
Hannah and William Groben servants at Dark Cedars.
Mr. Gay, Mrs. Gay, Joseph (Freckles) Gay family of Mary Louise.
Max Miller, Norman Wilder, Hope Dorsey, Bernice Tracey friends of Mary Louise.
Mrs. Abraham Lincoln Jones a colored woman.
Mira a gypsy fortune teller.
Silky Mary Louise’s dog.
CHAPTER I
The House of Mystery
“Be quiet, Silky! What’s the matter with you? You don’t usually bark like common dogs over nothing!”
The brown spaniel stopped under a maple tree and wagged his tail forlornly, looking pleadingly into his mistress’s eyes, as if he were trying to tell her that he wasn’t just making a fuss over nothing.
Mary Louise Gay stooped over and patted his head. She was a pretty girl of sixteen, with dark hair and lovely brown eyes and long lashes that would make an actress envious.
“I see what Silky means!” cried her companion, Jane Patterson who lived next door to Mary Louise and was her inseparable chum. “Look, Mary Lou! Up in the tree. A kitten!”
Both girls gazed up at the leafy branches overhead and spied a tiny black kitten crying piteously. It had climbed up and couldn’t get down.
“I’ll get it,” said Mary Louise.
She swung herself lightly to the lowest branch, chinned herself, and climbed the tree. In another minute she had rescued the kitten with her hands.
“Stretch on your tiptoes, Jane,” she called to her chum, “and see if I can hand it down to you.”
The other girl, who was much shorter and stockier than Mary Louise, did as she was told, but the distance was too great.
“I suppose I’ll have to climb down with her in one hand,” concluded Mary Louise. “That’s not so easy.”
“Drop her over to that branch you swung up by, and I’ll get her from there,” suggested Jane.
A moment later Mary Louise was at her chum’s side, stroking the little black kitten, now purring contentedly in Jane’s arms.
“I wonder whose it is,” she remarked. “There isn’t any house near—”
“Except old Miss Grant’s.”
Both girls turned and looked at the hill which rose at the right of the lonely road on which they had been walking. The house, a large drab plaster building, was barely visible through the dark cedars that surrounded it on all sides. A high, thick hedge, taller than an average-sized man, gave the place an even greater aspect of gloominess and seclusion.
“Maybe it is Miss Grant’s kitten,” suggested Jane. “Old maids are supposed to like cats, you know.”
Mary Louise’s brown eyes sparkled with anticipation.
“I hope it is!” she exclaimed. “And then we’ll get a look at the inside of that house. Because everybody says it’s supposed to be haunted. Our laundress’s little girl was walking past it one evening about dusk, and she heard the most terrible moan. She claims that two eyes, without any head or body, looked out through the hedge at her. She dropped her bundle and ran as fast as she could for home.”
“You don’t really believe there is anything, do you, Mary Lou?”
“I don’t know. There must be something queer about it.”
“Maybe there’s a crazy woman shut up in the tower.”
“You’ve been reading Jane Eyre, haven’t you, Jane? But there isn’t any tower on the Grant house.”
“Well, I guess Miss Grant is crazy enough herself. She dresses in styles of forty years ago. Did you ever see her?”
“Yes, I’ve had a glimpse of her once or twice when I walked past here. She looks like the picture of the old maid on the old-maid cards. It must be awful for that
girl who lives with her.”
“What girl?” inquired Jane.
“A niece, I believe. She must be about our age. Her father and mother both died, so she has to live with Miss Grant. They say the old lady treats her terribly—much worse than the two old servants she keeps.”
While this conversation was going on, the two girls, followed by Silky, were walking slowly up the hill towards the big hedge which surrounded the Grant place. Once inside the yard, it was almost like being in a deep, thick woods. Cedar trees completely enclosed the house and grew thick on both sides of the narrow path leading from the gate to the porch. In spite of the fact that it was broad daylight, Jane found herself shuddering. But Mary Louise seemed delighted with the strange, gloomy atmosphere.
“Doesn’t this girl go to high school?” asked Jane. “If she’s about our age—”
“I don’t believe so. I never saw her there.”
They stopped when they reached the steps of the porch and looked about with curiosity. It certainly was a run-down place. Boards were broken in the steps, and pieces of plaster had crumbled from the outer wall. The grayish-colored ivy which grew over the house seemed to emphasize its aspect of the past.
“Isn’t Miss Grant supposed to be rich?” whispered Jane incredulously. “It doesn’t look like it!”
“They say she’s a miser. Hoards every cent she can get.” Mary Louise smiled. “I believe I’ll tell Daddy to report her for hoarding. She deserves it!”
“Better wait and find out whether she really is rich, hadn’t you?” returned Jane. “Your father’s a busy man.”
Mary Louise nodded and looked at her dog.
“You lie down, Silky,” she commanded, “and wait here for us. Miss Grant probably wouldn’t like you. She might think you’d hurt Pussy.” She smiled indulgently. “She doesn’t know you belong to the Dog Scouts and do a kind act every day—like rescuing cats in distress!”
The spaniel obeyed, and the two girls mounted the rickety steps of the porch. Although it was late in June, the door was closed tightly, and they had to pull a rusty knocker to let the people inside know that they were there.
It was some minutes before there was any reply.
A sad-faced girl in an old-fashioned purple calico dress finally opened the door and stared at them with big gray eyes. The length of her dress, the way her blond hair was pulled back and pinned into a tight knot, made her seem much older than her visitors.
A suggestion of a smile crossed her face at the sight of the girls’ pleasant faces, and for a second she looked almost pretty.