When her family temporarily moves into a luxury apartment building in 1904 Manhattan, eleven-year-old Samantha tries to discover whether a series of mishaps is related to a curse on the building's owner.

In 1765, the arrival of an injured stranger from another tribe, traveling alone and apparently unable to speak, arouses suspicion in Kaya's Nez Percé village. Includes glossary and historical notes on the Nez Percé Indians.

While volunteering as a magazine delivery girl in a convalescent hospital during the Second World War, Molly uncovers a mystery involving the theft of rationed food supplies for sale on the black market.

When her family moves to Philadelphia's Society Hill neighborhood in 1866, Addy discovers that her new home holds dangerous secrets--including one connected to the North Carolina plantation she had escaped from only two years earlier. Includes a brief overview of the experiences of African Americans during Reconstruction, the period immediately following the Civil War.

As the war continues into May 1945, eleven-year-old Molly finds herself pulled in many different directions trying to cope with her troubled father's return from war, the abrupt resignation of her favorite Red Cross volunteer, a scrap-paper drive, and a mysterious neighborhood prowler.

In 1970s San Francisco, Julie and her best friend Ivy learn about Chinese immigration in the early twentieth century when they investigate a mysterious doll theft.

After Rebecca meets a new family in her New York City apartment building and helps watch their fussy baby while they are moving in, she becomes convinced that they have been victimized by the kidnappers that have been operating in their neighborhood.

While trying to find a way for her elementary school to help fund the seabird rescue following an oil spill in the San Francisco Bay, Julie investigates the theft of rare guitar. Includes a "Looking Back" essay about benefit concerts in the 1970s.

"Marie-Grace can't wait to begin her journey up the Mississippi River with her father. The steamboat they're traveling on is the biggest and fanciest boat Marie-Grace has ever seen. It's crowded with all sorts of interesting passengers, including Wilhelmina Newman, a girl her age. Wilhelmina is traveling alone, and she's carrying a secret in one of her trunks--clues to hidden Gold Rush treasure. Marie-Grace and Wilhelmina have to unravel the clues...

Caring for Ivy's talking parrot while she is on vacation, Julie rapidly discovers that an old friend has been hiding secrets that might be causing strange occurrences at Ivy's house, in a tale inspired by the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill and the vegetarianism movement of the 1970s.

Rebecca and Ana are spending spring vacation volunteering at a Japanese garden in Brooklyn. Rebecca is enchanted by the lush landscape of ferns and waterfalls, the exotic orchids, and the gardener's beautiful wife. Yet everything Rebecca does there turns out wrong. Someone seems determined to damage the garden-- and to cast suspicion on her and Ana.

Samantha and Nellie's trip to Paris with Grandmary and the Admiral turns into a mystery when a suspicious accident and a hotel break-in make the girls believe that someone is trying to harm the Admiral.

Visiting her cousin's home located deep in the woods during the War of 1812, Caroline discovers a smuggling operation in support of the British and worries that her own uncle might be a traitor.