A Woman Named Smith

Amusing mystery story, its melodramatic plot unwinding against the charming background of a South Carolina townlet stirred to its depths by the passing of an historic mansion, through a spite will, to the possession of "a Yankee woman named Smith." Miss Sophronisba Smith, a 36-year-old spinster secretary in New York City, receives an unexpected inheritance. Her Great Aunt Sophronisba Hynds Scarlett, whom she has never met, has left her a mansion, Hynds House, in Hyndsville, South Carolina, on condition she go to live in it. Sophy, with her young friend Alicia Gaines, makes the move, only to learn that that the old woman, by all accounts a fearsome tartar, made the bequest largely to spite the town and her nearer relatives and neighbors, two cousins, feisty Dr. Richard Geddes and elegant Nicholas Jelnik. 

The house, moreover, is full of mysteries -- at times a dark, oppressive feeling ... odd snatches of violin music ... a lingering scent of unknown perfume ... plus a legend of missing treasure. No servant will stay overnight, believing the house haunted; the place needs all kinds of work; and the town snubs the New York interlopers.

Incorporating loads of detail that will make antiques lovers drool, Oemler weaves a complex and charming tale around likable characters, with just a hint of the supernatural.