Mandie tries to solve the mystery of strangers from her past.

In 1901 when she visits her friend Joe and his family in the mountains of North Carolina, thirteen-year-old Mandie insists on finding out who might be using the supposedly deserted log cabin where she and her father had lived before he died.

"When Mandie, Celia, Jonathan, Mrs. Taft, Senator Morton and Uncle Ned leave Italy, they know that the house they are traveling to in Switzerland is surrounded with mystery."--Page 4 of cover.

Mandie and her friends attempt to unravel the mystery which includes missing gold, a train wreck, and a gang of robbers disguised as "ghosts."

When Mandie finds a quilt in the attic with a mysterious Cherokee message on it, she becomes determined to find out what it means, even after the quilt suddenly disappears.

A collection of tales featuring Mandie, an orphan, and her friends as they solve mysteries together in turn-of-the-century North Carolina.