Mystery at Blue Ridge Cemetery

Spotlight Club Mysteries

by Florence Parry Heide

The Spotlight Clubbers create stone rubbings of Civil War-era tombstones for a summer school class on the Civil War. Cindy has chosen the tombstone of Serafina Winslow, who died in 1862. Then, at the neighborhood yard sale, Cindy locates a box of interesting-looking old photos and frames and miscellaneous papers. When she takes it home with her, she discovers Serafina Winslow's journal inside! Things get even more mysterious when Cindy finds a sketch of her neighbor's missing locket in the journal. What does the long-deceased Serafina Winslow have to do with the recent disappearance of the locket? Leave it to the Spotlight Club to dig up the answers!

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

"What do I like about writing for children? Everything," says Florence Parry Heide, the award-winning author of more than sixty children’s books, including the classic THE SHRINKING OF TREEHORN, illustrated by Edward Gorey. "I like the connection with children," the author says. "I like the connection with all kinds of book people. And I like the connection with my childhood self, which is the most of me. It is the most welcome and familiar of worlds. There miracles abound--indeed it is magical that something I might think of can be put into words, stories, ideas, and that those words end up in the heads of readers I will never meet."

Florence Parry Heide wrote SOME THINGS ARE SCARY, a humorous look at childhood bugaboos, more than thirty years ago. "I had finished another book and was in the mood to write something else," she says. "I decided to get some kindling from the garage, reached into the kindling box and--good grief!--grabbed something soft and mushy. I fled back to the house, scared to death." A brave return visit to the kindling box revealed the object of terror to be nothing more than a discarded wet sponge, but the thought remained: some things are scary. As she recalls, "What scared me as a child was that I’d never learn how to be a real grownup--and the fact is, I never did find out how it goes."


One thing Florence Parry Heide does have a good handle on is the concept of friendship, in all its humorous manifestations. THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR, a tongue-in-cheek tale cowritten with Sylvia Van Clief in 1967, pokes at the tendency of well-meaning friends to offer advice instead of help, and presents a valuable lesson about what true friendship means. "One of my many (true) sayings is ‘A new friend is around the corner of every single day,’ " the author declares. "Also true: Friendships last. And last."


Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Florence Parry Heide worked in advertising and public relations in New York City before returning to Pittsburgh during World War II. After the war, she and her husband moved to Wisconsin, where they raised five children, two of whom have cowritten critically acclaimed books with their mother. Florence Parry Heide now lives in Wisconsin.

Reviews

[Twyla · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite part was when they finally managed to figure out who was good and who was bad after getting mixed up.

[Cena Rhodes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read aloud with Stormy. She gives it 5 stars but only 3 stars for me. I'm not sure about kids running around at night is such a great idea to read about.

[Ivan Kadery · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent book for kids.

[Helen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read for school.

[Ashley Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book that was filled with lots of adventures and you will never know what to expect until you read the page.