Off for their holidays, Gerry and her sister Delia are in merry mood as their train, the “Christmas Special”, glides out of Brighton Station. Changing at a wayside station for the final phase of their journey the sisters stumble across a woman who is suspiciously handling a perfectly dazzling necklace. A little farther on Gerry, in trying to retrieve a little pom on the line, sprains her ankle. Quite unable to proceed farther, a lady who witnesses the accident comes to Gerry’s assistance, and takes the two girls to her home nearby. Here commences a truly thrilling mystery, which carries the two sisters through a most memorable and exciting Christmas.
A prolific English children's author, known primarily for her girls' school stories, Ethel Mary Talbot was born in 1880, in Sutton Coldfield. She was the daughter of Hugh Talbot, and his wife, Margaret Ellen Turrell, committed members of the Plymouth Brethren, and had at least eight sisters and one brother. The family moved frequently, and little is known of Talbot's early years, or her education. As an adult, she settled in Edinburgh, where she shared a house with her friend and fellow school story author E.M. de Foubert, from 1914 to 1916. Talbot remained in Edinburgh until the 1930s, at which point she moved to London. During WWII she moved to Hayward's Heath, where she died in 1944.
An odd mystery, one that I feel had a shaky ending. I never fully understood it, especially that the necklace was with the rich lady, but then stolen? I think I missed something. Oh well, at least I got an Ethel Talbot book for only $3, mostly they cost around $30. Not my style oddly enough, though it should be. Three stars.