The Girl Scouts' Vacation Adventure

The seventh book in the Girl Scouts series by Edith Lavell, The Girl Scouts' Vacation Adventure, also has a real mystery, and this one is better than the one from the sixth book. The Girl Scouts open a tea room in Philadelphia. The proceeds are to go to a needy woman who is sick and has a baby. The house in which the tea room is located is said to be haunted. Three previous owners all died in rapid succession within a short period of time.

Soon after the tea room is opened, the cook disappears. She turns up again, apparently the victim of an abduction—or something. During the woman's ordeal, she wakes up to hear someone warn her to tell the Girl Scouts to leave the house. Who is responsible? This is a mystery, indeed! It is a very good mystery, as most series books are highly predictable. This one surprised me a little. I did not quite expect one part of the solution.

In this book, the public reaction to a haunted house is more accurate than usually portrayed in series books. In the average series book, when the public learns of a haunted house, everyone stays away and is tremendously fearful. In this book, when the newspapers publish the story of the abduction along with the history of the house, the girls' business dramatically increases, as indicated on page 141:

The wide publicity given by the newspapers had produced the same results as an expensive advertising campaign; indeed, the girls were now making money so fast that Marjorie found herself in a position to pay back a hundred dollars of the loan to Mr. Andrews.

The publicity does hurt the tea room in one fashion. The girls need more help, but when the ads are answered, the applicants decide that they do not want to work in a haunted house.

I was gratified that the ghost stories did not scare off every member of the community as is usually the case in series books.