Golden Age of Detective Fiction

The Mystery at Dark Cedars is the first novel in the Mary Louise Gay trilogy of mysteries written for children and teens. She is a contemporary of Nancy Drew and, like her more famous counterpart, investigates local crimes with the help of her loyal friends and supportive family. However, Mary Louise Gay is not simply a Nancy Drew clone; she’s more assertive and rough and tumble than the virtuous Nancy Drew, and I think would be a welcome change of pace for fans of the Nancy Drew series.

Mary Louise Gay, a happy and well-liked high school girl, is hanging out with her best friend, Jane Patterson, a boisterous and headstrong girl. Walking home from a tennis date, they spot a little kitten stuck in a tree. Even though they are already tired and hot from playing tennis on a brutally hot summer’s day Mary Louise Gay climbs the tall tree, and the two girls make the long trek up to Dark Cedars to return the kitten.

At Dark Cedars, they meet Miss Mattie Grant, a forbidding and miserly old spinster who, despite disliking nearly everyone, takes to Mary Louise and Jane and thanks them for their kindness. Miss Grant invites them in and introduces the two girls to her niece, Elsie Grant, who is only a year younger than Mary Louise and Jane.

Elsie Grant, whose parents recently died, lives with her elderly aunt and is forced to be a maid to her aunt and any visiting relatives. She is forbidden from going to school and only has old hand-me-downs from her aunt to wear. She has no money even though her aunt is quite wealthy and cannot leave the grounds of Dark Cedars.

Mary Louise and Jane secretly talk to Elsie along the path of dark cedars on the grounds, and a bond is quickly formed. Mary Louise and Jane decide to go home and get some clothes for Elsie, and they loosely formulate plans to try and convince Miss Grant to allow Elsie to go to high school.

Mary Louise and Jane returned home and explained Elsie’s situation to their parents. Mary Louise’s mother kindly helps Mary Louise put together a care package for the girl and mentions that they should be careful because Miss Grant is not a woman to cross.

That same evening, Miss Grant is hosting her various relations, including a smooth-talking nephew and a scheming sister-in-law; they all get along well enough until it’s discovered that someone in the house has stolen a significant hoard of money that Miss Grant kept in her safe. Immediate suspicions turn to Elsie Grant, who has a cache of new clothes.

Elsie meets with Mary Louise and Jane to ask them for help, and Mary Louise decides she will clear her friend’s name. Mary Louise’s detective father is out of town on a case, but she hopes she has learned enough from his example to lead an investigation.

Mary Louise is resourceful; she conducts thorough interviews, tails suspects, hides in a car to steal evidence, and even thwarts several potential kidnapping threats. When Miss Grants asks her to stay at Dark Cedars to guard her precious jewels, Mary Louise fights off an assailant and escapes being locked in the wardrobe after said assailant slashes Miss Grant’s bed to pieces with a long knife.

When Elsie goes missing, Mary Louise searches the town for her friend, talks to the black family that lives down the road from Elsie, and dines with them. She also goes amongst the gypsy camp in search of Elsie; she isn’t afraid of or prejudiced about these two heavily discriminated communities and, in her search, uncovers a decades-long secret that might explain all the unfortunate happenings at Dark Cedars.

The Review

I enjoyed The Mystery at Dark Cedars, especially Mary Louise Gay, who isn’t afraid to take risks and displays a lot of grit in the story. She even punches a guy in the mouth, which I doubt is in Nancy Drew’s repertoire. She’s a very kind protagonist who listens to everyone, from cooks to her detective father, but ultimately makes up her mind and acts on her own decisions.

The mystery surrounding the missing money is relatively easy to solve (for an adult), and Edith Lavell makes sure to cast sufficient suspicion on all of her characters- including Elsie, who makes quite a few mistakes that embroil her further in the mystery swirling around Dark Cedars.

The secondary mystery about Miss Grant’s jewels ramps up the danger, and Mary Louise and Jane are in proper threat often. This constant danger produces friction between Mary Louise and Jane because Jane is not wholly convinced of Elsie’s innocence. Jane finds a plausible theory on how Elsie could have hoodwinked everyone and run away with the money. This dynamic is very different from the sidekick or secondary characters in a Nancy Drew story whose primary function is to bolster Nancy Drew- not challenge her ideas.

There are a few flaws with the book, namely some outdated attitudes towards African Americans and the use of the racial slur, gypsy, which was the most common term for the Romani people in America at that time. The stereotype that Romani steal rob, cheat, and are only good as fortune tellers and are imbued with the power to curse pervades the story about the stolen jewels. Surprisingly, Mary Louise Gay does not seem to hold such prejudices and even refutes them throughout the book, which is pretty progressive for 1935. However, the whole gypsy storyline may preclude some readers from wanting to read The Mystery at Dark Cedars., which is fair.

However, I enjoyed The Mystery at Dark Cedars, especially the characterization of Mary Louise Gay and Jane Patterson. I also found it funny that despite their many boyfriends and potential boyfriends, they are wholly uninterested in having them help investigate the mysteries. Mary Louise and Jane meet up with several boys to play tennis or go to a beach party, but they need to be more focused on romance or protection; in fact, they deliberately mislead the would-be knights in shining armor so they are never around to save them.

The relationship between Mary Louise and her parents was charming. Her mother is kind but not a fool and gives sound, practical advice to Mary Louise. Mary Louise’s father helps her on a stake out in the woods and keeps his involvement in the investigation to a minimum. The Mystery at Dark Cedars is truly Mary Louise Gay’s story, and I think she’s an excellent protagonist who does the right thing while still retaining the sense that this could be a real girl.

If you haven’t read any of Edith Lavell’s Mary Louise Gay series, I recommend checking them out. I have the rest of the series and look forward to reviewing them soon.

P.S. If you have a review of The Mystery at Dark Cedars on your blog, please let me know so I can link it below.