Sirens and Spies wasn't scary, either. I think the main character or her sister studied music with the old lady, if that rings a bell.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was set in present day (80s or 90s probably) in America.

This is more like Miriam's suggestion - the File on Fraulein Berg by Joan Lingard (better known for her series about the Protestant boy and Catholic girl in Northern Ireland).

The Witch books weren't really scary and there was no real magic involved.

Don't think either of those are it, but thanks. I don't remember there being any magic involved... pretty sure it was contemporary realism. And not particularly scary.

Could it be any of the Witch Saga books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witch_S...

Sirens and Spies has a girl who thinks the old neighbor lady who teaches music was a Nazi agent in France during WWII, and investigates her. I don't remember where it was set.

Hmm, I'm pretty sure that's not it, but a good guess!

Just a guess, but "Octagon Magic" by Andre Norton comes to mind:

Book review:
When her grandmother gets sick, eleven-year-old Lorrie Mallard is sent to live with her aunt in the U.S. Things were different back home in Canada, and Lorrie is homesick—especially when boys like Jimmy Purvis and Stan Wormiski tease her. One day, Lorrie finds herself at the door of Octagon House, where she is welcomed by the elderly Miss Ashemeade and her servant, Hallie. Could the kindly Miss Ashemeade truly be a witch, like everyone says? Lorrie doesn’t know, but with the help an old rocking horse and a dollhouse she finds in a mysterious eight-sided room, she begins to unlock the secrets of Octagon House.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46341...

The books begins in the fall and there are descriptions of leaves and Lorrie remembers the smell of burning leaves and roasting chestnuts back home. On the way home from school, she sees a little kitten. The two bullies are chasing it and it runs through the gates at Octagon House, where it is rumored a witch lives. Lorrie squeezes through the gate anyway to avoid the boys.

I apologize in advance that my memory of this book is so vague. I read this chapter book in 2nd or 3rd grade in the mid 1990s. It took place in autumn, possibly in New England... a place with fall foliage at least. The protagonist was a girl who was probably at least 12 as I seem to remember her being older than I was. I have never forgotten this book simply because it conveyed the mood of autumn so well. I think part of it took place during Halloween, too.

Now, I'm also thinking this was in the same book, but I'm not sure: there was an old woman in the neighborhood who the girl suspects of something creepy (I don't recall what), but it turns out her suspicions are wrong.

Any ideas?