Evelyn's Mystery Books

Some new (to me) Susan Sand books. I received a few more Susan Sand books in the mail this week. I'm buying all of the ones that I see for sale on Australia ebay. These books are fairly hard to find, so I'll pick up extra copies when I see them at reasonable prices. I received three new US edition books. Two of these are in fairly rough shape, but that's fine -- I'll read these ones. Then, excitingly, I received my first UK edition Susan Sand book. The UK editions have interesting picture covers. Unlike the US versions, there are no internal illustrations. The UK editions are also thinner than the US editions. Here are some more pictures of the books that I received today: The fronts of the books. The backs of the books. Here is a side-by-side comparison of the US (left) and UK (right) versions of "The Phantom of Featherford Falls": The fronts of the books. The backs of the books. And here are a few more pictures of the UK ...

My new Susan Sand books. Today I received a lot of three Susan Sand books in the mail, and I am so excited to have more of these books to read! The books in this lot are a little worn, but that is fine because then I won't feel bad reading them. I'm very happy with this purchase -- I only paid $20 AUD for the three books. Here are some more pictures of the books: The fronts of the books. The backs of the books. I have a few more Susan Sand books coming in the mail. I'll share pictures when they arrive. 

My first Susan Sand book. I recently discovered the Susan Sand mystery series, and I have decided to collect this little series of eight books. My aim is to collect all of the books in both the US and UK editions. The Susan Sand books are somewhat rare, especially the last two books in the series. However, I managed to find quite a few of the books on Australia ebay, and I even found an inexpensive copy of the eighth book on US ebay that I had shipped to my parents' house -- they regularly send us packages, so they'll include it in the next one. I bought up all of the Susan Sand books I could find on Australia ebay. Some look to be in good condition, while others are somewhat worn. That's okay, though -- I want to have some reading copies. I received the first book on Thursday, a copy of the second book "The Secret of Clovercrest Castle". I started reading the book yesterday and am about halfway through. I thought about waiting to start reading until ...

Two Severn House Dana Girls mystery books. Exciting Update: A new friend of mine in a Dana Girls Facebook group sent me this link with information on these books. Apparently six of the Dana Girls books were published by Severn House. Two have picture covers while the other four have dust jackets. Now I have to try to collect the rest of them! I recently blogged about the softcover Sparrow Books editions of the Dana Girls mystery books that were published in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Some of these books, using the same cover art, were published in hardcover format by Severn House, also in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. The Severn House books seem to be very rare, so I can't find much information about them. I don't think that all seventeen of the newer set of Dana Girls books were published in this format. Based on the information written on one of the Severn House books that I own, as well as some pictures I've seen online (mostly old book sale list...

My collection of softcover Dana Girls mystery books. I really enjoy the Dana Girls mystery books. As a child, I collected hardcover editions that I found in used bookshops in the United States. I noticed that the newer books, published in the 1970s, had white covers and also a different numbering system. More on Dana Girls formats can be found here . In total, seventeen books were published in the white 1970s hardcover format. One interesting thing to note is that some titles changed slightly between the older set of books and the newer 1970s versions. "The Mystery of the Stone Tiger" became "Mystery of the Stone Tiger".  Also, "The Mystery of the Bamboo Bird" became "Mystery of the Bamboo Bird". What I didn't realize when I was growing up in America is that the seventeen Dana Girls books that were published in the 1970s were also published as softcover editions in the 1980s. These softcover editions were published by Sparrow B...