The shop on Threnody Street

by Mary Francis Shura

Attracted as a child by two very lifelike dolls in a shop window, Liza Quentin is told that they represent real children, Katya and Nikolas Lvov, who had disappeared in an orphanage fire and are presumed dead. But the shop owner, Sophia, believes that they are still alive and guards the Lvov fortune for them. Their story fascinates Liza. Years later, when she hears that Katya is alive and has found Sophia, Liza returns to Threnody Street, eager for answers to the questions she has puzzled over for so long. Instead, however, she discovers more questions. What is wrong with Sophia? Why is Katya so elusive? Why is Liza's friend being followed and her apartment searched? Caught in a series of mysterious incidents, Liza is irresistibly drawn toward the unsuspected killer who waits for her in "The Shop On Threnody Street"!

Genres: Gothic

160 pages, Unbound

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Mary Francis Young was born on 23 February 1923 in Pratt, Kansas, the daughter of Jack Fant and Mary Francis (Milstead) Young. When she was very young, her family moved to the Pacific Northwest, where she raised. She studied at Maryville State College. On 24 October 1943, she married Daniel Charles Shura, who died in 1959. They had two children: Marianne Francis Shura (Spraguc) and Daniel Charles Shura. On 8 December 1961, she married Raymond C. Craig, they had a daughter Alice Barrett Craig (Stout), before their divorce.

Since 1960, she wrote over 50 books of various genres: children's adventures and teen-romances as Mary Francis Shura, M. F. Craig, and Meredith Hill; gothic novels as Mary Craig; romance novels as Alexis Hill, Mary Shura Craig and Mary S. Craig; and suspense novels as M. S. Craig.

Her children's novel "The Search for Grissi" received the Carl Sandburg Literary Arts Award in 1985, and she also was nominated to the Young Hoosier Book Award. In 1990, she was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America.

She lived in Hinsdale, Illinois, where her apartment burned on 13 December 1990. At 67, she died of injuries suffered in the fire on 12 January 1991 in Loyola University Medical Burn Center in Maywood.

Reviews

[Denise Spicer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 157 page book is a quick, interesting read set in Chicago. The story follows recent college grad, Liza, who returns to the street she grew up on. Together with her childhood friend, Jane, they try to puzzle out the odd occurrences connected to their friend Sophia, an elderly proprietors of the local doll shop. Sophia holds a fortune in trust for two children missing since after WWII and together, Liza and Jane must help her uncover the truth. Has a great, very evocative cover that lends to the appeal.