The Devon Treasure Mystery (1939), in which two girls and four boys become amateur detectives and search for a long lost treasure. One summary of her critical reception concludes: [Her] novels have been disparaged for a variety of weaknesses...and almost all her plots rely too heavily on coincidence. Her sharp sociological observations provide valuable insight for students of cultural history, however; in addition, her strengths as a novelist are evident in the detailed, naturalistic portraits of the daily lives of her characters, and in her inability [sic] to involve the reader in the problems her characters face. Graham Greene, in a review of The Law and the McLaughlins, wrote: "She has an admirable gift for very simple direct narrative, and her theme has always been passionately realized in terms of human beings.... we are always aware of a writer of fine moral discrimination and a passionate awareness of individual suffering." Works Novels The Able McLaughlins (1923), reprinted by Cherokee Publishing Company, Atlanta, GA, 2007 The Kenworthys (1925) The Painted Room (1926), sequel to The Kenworthys Daughters of India (1928), reprinted by Oxford University Press, 2007 (edited by Ralph Crane) Trousers of Taffeta (1929) The Dark Duty (1931) The Valiant Wife (1933) The Law and the McLaughlins (1936), sequel to The Able McLaughlins Novel for children The Devon Treasure Mystery (1939) Non-fiction The Crime of Punishment (1931) References Bibliography Webster's Biographical Dictionary (Springfield, MA: G. and C. Merriam, 1980) External links 1882 births 1973 deaths People from Tama County, Iowa American Presbyterian missionaries Female Christian missionaries Presbyterian missionaries in India American women novelists Pulitzer Prize for the Novel winners Novelists from Iowa 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers Schoolteachers from Illinois 20th-century American women educators University of Chicago alumni American expatriates in India 20th-century American educators