The Secret Garden

Janie and Tom Mystery

by Lois Gladys Leppard

Janie is an ordinary girl growing up in an idyllic Irish village. Her new friend, Tom, has just come to live in the town orphanage. There’s nothing extraordinary about the two of them—except that they have an uncanny knack for finding and solving mysteries. The gates to the garden of a house down the street has been closed and locked for years. The mysteries that lie behind the ivy-covered walls have long been a source of speculation in the village. Then one day, the owners hire a new caretaker. Will he uncover the secrets of the garden? And what is the new caretaker searching for? This mystery series is sure to delight and thrill children of all ages. Designed especially for children 8-13, The Secret Garden introduces them to Janie, her family, and Tom, an orphan who has just moved to the village. The Janie and Tom Mystery Series will be a perennial favorite for inquisitive young minds.

Paperback

First published February 3, 2003

About the author

Lois Gladys Leppard was the author of the Mandie series of children's novels. Leppard wrote her first Mandie story when she was only eleven and a half years old, but did not become a professional author until she was an adult. Leppard has also worked as a professional singer, actress, and playwright. At one time, she and her two sisters, Sybil and Louise, formed a singing group called the Larke Sisters.
There are forty Mandie books in the main series, an eight-book junior series and several other titles. Leppard said that she could write a Mandie book in two weeks, barring any interruptions.
The eponymous heroine lives in North Carolina in the early 1900s, encountering adventure and solving mysteries with help from her friends, family, and pet cat, Snowball. These young reader novels are meant to teach morals as well as be fun and captivating stories to read. Leppard stated that her books contain "nothing occult or vulgar", and Mandie is depicted as a faithful Christian. The Mandie books often deal with issues of discrimination and prejudice relating to race (particularly with regard to the local Cherokee), class, and disability.
Lois Gladys Leppard based some of the incidents in her Mandie books on her mother's experiences growing up in North Carolina. The dedication in the first book is: "For My Mother, Bessie A. Wilson Leppard, and In Memory of Her Sister, Lillie Margaret Ann Wilson Frady, Orphans of North Carolina Who Outgrew the Sufferings of Childhood".