Half-Penny Adventure, Mystery of the Other House, and Vanishing Octant Mystery by Augusta Seaman

In The Half-Penny Adventure, Eunice and her new friend, Barbara, help Eunice's Uncle Robert on his newspaper.  The girls became acquainted after Barbara's brother was killed in the war.  Eunice and Barbara chance to meet Elsie and her brother, who are staying with William Clagmore, a sworn enemy of Uncle Robert.  Elsie wears a half-penny coin as a necklace, and Uncle Robert also owns a half-penny.  Elsie is secretive about her coin.

Meanwhile, Elsie warns the girls that Clagmore is planning to seek revenge against Uncle Robert.  After Uncle Robert is incapacitated from a mysterious fall, the girls have to keep his newspaper running.

During a meal, each person gets a small pat of butter, which is said to be an extravagance during the war.

This is an excellent book.

In Mystery of the Other House, Susan becomes friends with Detta, who lives across the street.  An elderly boarder lives on one floor of Detta's house, and this man has mysterious visitors at all times of the day.

This is another story about what might have happened to the lost dauphin of France.  As soon as I realized that this story is about the dauphin, I began skimming it.  I am not interested in those stories.  As I have previously mentioned, I prefer the Seaman stories that are completely fictitious.  Aside from that, this is still a good story, although it does not appeal to me.

In The Vanishing Octant Mystery, Posy and her family spend the summer on the shore of New Jersey.  Soon after their arrival, Posy spots an old octant on the shore, but it is swept back into the ocean.  The octant disappears and reappears several times.  Posy's father hopes to obtain it for his museum, and others are soon after it as they recognize the possible value.

I find the last paragraph in the dust jacket summary to be quite interesting.

Augusta Huiell Seaman has lived on the Jersey coast for many years and has discovered many unusual treasures washed up on the ocean beaches by storms, but the navigator's octant bearing the inscription, "Tower Hill, London, April 1778", is one of her most unusual finds.  THE VANISHING OCTANT MYSTERY is her forty-first mystery story for girls, and her own interesting solution to its history.

The octant featured in this story is based on one that Seaman actually owned.  I wonder what happened to Seaman's octant?

The Vanishing Octant Mystery is a strong conclusion to Seaman's writing career.  Seaman died in 1950, the year after this book was published.  This is an excellent story.