This story is cleverly told in the form of written memoirs by Jerusha and her Aunt Edith as they recall the tumultuous summer of 1926 that changed so many lives in the small New England seacoast town of Sewell. Jerusha and her brother Freddy had arrived at the family home known as The Haven, and were warmly greeted by their grandfather, Aunt Edith, and their friend Bron Zebra, a young man Edith’s age who makes his living on his boat, and is a close friend of the entire family. At first everything is wonderful, but a neighbor girl, Mary, causes anxiety and trouble for Jerusha with her rude ways and crush on Bron. Smugglers are active in the area, making everyone nervous, and the strange events surrounding the recent death of their grandmother, and the extremely ugly quilt she made, are a troubling mystery. Another mystery is what Bron is doing out in the bay with a married woman on his boat, as Jerusha and Mary discover. Things come to a head late one night when a gun is fired and one of the family is gravely wounded.
This is a cracking good mystery as well as a fine family story. Recommended if you can find it.