S. CARLETON – The La Chance Mine Mystery. Little Brown & Co, hardcover, 1920. Currently available in various Print-on-Demand editions and as a free download from Project Gutenberg.

   Nick Stretton kills time while managing his gold mine up in the Canadian woods by conjuring up a mental picture of his ideal dream girl. Under pressure of unusual weariness and ennui, one cold and dreary night, he decides to “chuck his job,” return to civilization where his dream girl must be waiting somewhere, and live a normal life.

   When lo! beside the fire of the mine-house living-room, when he enters, sits his dream girl. The “how” of her coming is easily explained, but the “why” leads into a maze of mystery.

Editorial Comment: If you are as suspicious as I am whenever I see an older book like this with the author’s first name appearing only as an initial or two, you will not be surprised to learn that her full name was Susan Carleton Jones, 1864-1926. This is her only entry in Al Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV. There is a short bio-bibliography online for her here.