Touch and Go [Devil in the Dark]

255 pp. A mystery by the author best known for her series of Miss Silver mysteries. When Sarah Trent was engaged as governess to seventeen-year-old Lucilla Hildred, she didn't bargain for a series of sinister occurrences - scary noises, the nocturnal rattle of claws against glass, a sabotaged bicycle. Then there is a neighbouring burglary, leaving a set of muddy footprints - but whose? Sarah comes to suspect that someone is trying to kill the orphaned Lucilla, sole heir to a fortune. Is it visiting American John Brown, or could Lucilla be playing a deceptive game of her own? Someone is poised, waiting like a snake to strike, and Lucilla may not be the only prey… Touch and Go was originally published in 1934 (original UK title: Devil in the Dark).