Mary Louise

L. Frank Baum (1856 - 1919)

The Bluebird Books is a series of novels popular with teenage girls in the 1910s and 1920s. The series was begun by L. Frank Baum using his Edith Van Dyne pseudonym,then continued by at least three others, all using the same pseudonym. Baum wrote the first four books in the series, possibly with help from his son, Harry Neal Baum, on the third.

The books are concerned with adolescent girl detectives— a concept Baum had experimented with earlier, in The Daring Twins (1911) and Phoebe Daring (1912). The Bluebird series began with Mary Louise, originally written as a tribute to Baum's favorite sister, Mary Louise Baum Brewster. Baum's publisher, Reilly & Britton, rejected that manuscript, apparently judging the heroine too independent. Baum wrote a new version of the book; the original manuscript is lost.

The title character is Mary Louise Burrows. In the first books of the series, she is a fifteen-year-old girl with unusual maturity (though the other girls in her boarding school find her somewhat priggish). She is suddenly confronted with the fact that her beloved grandfather is suspected of no less a crime than treason against the United States. With the help of old and new friends of Mary Louise … the truth is uncovered. The novel features a federal agent named John O'Gorman; he is assisted by his daughter Josie, a young woman he has himself trained to function as an investigator. (The Josie O'Gorman character, despite preceding Nancy Drew by more than a decade, is much less traditionally feminine.) (Summary from Wikipedia)

Genre(s): General Fiction, Detective Fiction

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 00 00 - Publisher's Note Sibella Denton
00:02:03
Play 01 01 - Just an Argument Sibella Denton
00:07:49
Play 02 02 - Gran'pa Jim Sibella Denton
00:09:27
Play 03 03 - A Surprise Sibella Denton
00:07:20
Play 04 04 - Shifting Sands Sibella Denton
00:05:47
Play 05 05 - Official Investigation Sibella Denton
00:11:59
Play 06 06 - Under a Cloud Sibella Denton
00:10:43
Play 07 07 - The Escape Sibella Denton
00:09:15
Play 08 08 - A Friendly Foe Sibella Denton
00:12:06
Play 09 09 - Officer O'Gorman Sibella Denton
00:14:32
Play 10 10 - Rather Queer Indeed Sibella Denton
00:07:27
Play 11 11 - Mary Louise Meets Irene Sibella Denton
00:14:52
Play 12 12 - A Cheerful Comrade Sibella Denton
00:08:02
Play 13 13 - Bub Succumbs to Force Sibella Denton
00:13:47
Play 14 14 - A Call from Agatha Lord Sibella Denton
00:13:00
Play 15 15 - Bub's Hobby Sibella Denton
00:10:44
Play 16 16 - The Stolen Book Sibella Denton
00:04:08
Play 17 17 - The Hired Girl Sibella Denton
00:06:29
Play 18 18 - Mary Louise Grows Suspicious Sibella Denton
00:09:10
Play 19 19 - An Artful Confession Sibella Denton
00:11:41
Play 20 20 - Diamond Cut Diamond Sibella Denton
00:14:37
Play 21 21 - Bad News Sibella Denton
00:06:28
Play 22 22 - The Folks at Bigbee's Sibella Denton
00:08:09
Play 23 23 - A Kiss from Josie Sibella Denton
00:07:04
Play 24 24 - Facing the Truth Sibella Denton
00:08:51
Play 25 25 - Simple Justice Sibella Denton
00:07:12
Play 26 26 - The Letter Sibella Denton
00:09:38