The Mystery of Mary

When Tryon Dunham’s train after work arrives at the station late, he has no idea that the course of his life is about to change forever.

He needs to hurry home and change clothes for an evening dinner party, so he decides to walk along the tracks to save time. A beautiful, well-dressed young woman overtakes him and begs his protection from mysterious pursuers and a threatened evil that she refuses to explain.

Is she a criminal? Could she be an escaped lunatic? Has she been kidnapped? Whatever the source of her terror, Dunham immediately decides to trust and help her. In the brief time they are together, he learns she is well-educated and musically gifted, but not much else.

He gives her money and arranges her train ticket to Chicago, but then regrets not going with her. He keeps thinking about her and finally decides to travel to Chicago and search for her, even though he doesn’t know her last name.

Meanwhile, Mary has further adventures in Chicago to keep her identity unknown and her presence hidden so her pursuers can’t find her. Will Tryon be reunited with Mary, discover the cause of her peril, and deliver her from harm?

Grace Livingston Hill was a prolific and well-loved author early in the 20th century. Publisher’s Weekly summarized this 1912 book as a “bright and wholesome mystery story”, while fans then and now swoon over the old-fashioned sweet romance between Tryon and Mary.