SOLVED. Kids' Mystery chapter book about a girl named Dorinda. Read in 1980s. [s]

[Emily]

This book was written for upper elementary. I read it in the 1980s when I was in school. It was a paperback. It's a mystery book about a girl with the first name Dorinda. I remember a scene in which she thinks she sees a body being dragged along a hallway or a sidewalk or something. Sorry I can't give you more details; I just don't remember much more!

[Rainbowheart]

Dorinda's Diamonds?

[Emily]

No, it isn't Dorinda's Diamonds. Thanks for trying to help, though!

[Rainbowheart]

Was Dorinda a teenager or a younger child?

Are you positive it was Dorinda and not a similar name like Doreen?

[Emily]

I am positive it was Dorinda. I remember her character as being upper-elementary age, 10-12 or so.

Are you positive it was Dorinda and not a similar name like Doreen?"

[Emily]

I am positive it was Dorinda. I remember the character being upper elementary age, 10-12 years old or so.

[Rainbowheart]

The Stranger at Winfield House

Across the hall near the top of the stairs, the legs and feet of a man's body were being pulled right through Mr. Skeehan's doorway! I jerked our door shut, careful at the last split second not to slam it for fear whoever was doing the pulling of the body would catch me spying on them. I locked the door and braced my back against it. All the time I was trying hard to make myself believe that whatever was going on in this house didn't have anything to do with Mama and me. Especially not if it was murder. And those feet pointing straight up sure hadn't looked much alive.

[Kris]

Rainbowheart's suggestion of The Stranger at Winfield House by Wilma Yeo sounds like your book.

Google Books has a snippet preview. You might get lucky searching for keywords.

https://books.google.com/books?id=VoQ...

Quotes from the book:

- ... shiny new pair of shoes - black and white shoes. The same shoes I had seen being dragged into Mr. Skeehan's apartment the night below.
I swished the curtain back for a better look.
- My dad had said to me one time, "Sisterbaby" (that's what he calls me even though my name is rightly Dorinda) ...
- He looked proud as if he had invented fathers! "Dorinda," he began formal-like in that way that made me wonder if he was trying to be funny or serious. "I'm please to introduce my ..."

[Emily]

Thank you so much! It is definitely "Stranger at Winfield House."

[Rainbowheart]

Awesome, super glad to have helped out!