1MJ1979
Hello everyone! I stumbled upon this site while trying to find the titles/authors of a couple of mystery books I read in 7th grade (1992). I can't remember the titles or authors of either book, but I remember the plots vividly.
The first book that I am looking for tells the story of a young girl (I think she is a teenager at the time) who keeps having vivid dreams about what appears to be another life. She also can't seem to get the tune to "Three Blind Mice" out of her head and keeps playing it on the piano.
At some point in the story her and a friend go to visit some small town and there she has incredible experiences of deja vu. The town is extremely familiar to her even though she knows that she has never been there before. There is a very old man that she keeps running into that has a few fingers (maybe even a hand - I can't remember which) missing. The old man seems harmless, but she is scared to death of him. As her dreams intensify in vividness and frequency, she begins to solve her own mystery of deja vu. Apparently, in a previous life, she was a little girl who was somewhat spoiled. While playing with one of the older neighborhood kids, she accidentally caused the boy to sever his fingers (hand?). The boy never forgot and plotted to get the little girl back. One night, the kids were all playing in the cemetery (I can't remember if it was for Halloween or on a dare, etc.) and the little boy singled the little girl out for revenge. While he only meant to scare her, she ended up falling into an open grave and died. The teenager discovers that she is the reincarnated little girl and finds herself face to face with her killer (the old man) decades later! It was a great story and I wish that I could remember the title or author. If anyone could help me I would appreciate it so much! I have been looking for this book for a while now without success and it's driving me crazy! I will create another post for the other book shortly (that plot is kind of long also). Thanks so much in advance!
The first book that I am looking for tells the story of a young girl (I think she is a teenager at the time) who keeps having vivid dreams about what appears to be another life. She also can't seem to get the tune to "Three Blind Mice" out of her head and keeps playing it on the piano.
At some point in the story her and a friend go to visit some small town and there she has incredible experiences of deja vu. The town is extremely familiar to her even though she knows that she has never been there before. There is a very old man that she keeps running into that has a few fingers (maybe even a hand - I can't remember which) missing. The old man seems harmless, but she is scared to death of him. As her dreams intensify in vividness and frequency, she begins to solve her own mystery of deja vu. Apparently, in a previous life, she was a little girl who was somewhat spoiled. While playing with one of the older neighborhood kids, she accidentally caused the boy to sever his fingers (hand?). The boy never forgot and plotted to get the little girl back. One night, the kids were all playing in the cemetery (I can't remember if it was for Halloween or on a dare, etc.) and the little boy singled the little girl out for revenge. While he only meant to scare her, she ended up falling into an open grave and died. The teenager discovers that she is the reincarnated little girl and finds herself face to face with her killer (the old man) decades later! It was a great story and I wish that I could remember the title or author. If anyone could help me I would appreciate it so much! I have been looking for this book for a while now without success and it's driving me crazy! I will create another post for the other book shortly (that plot is kind of long also). Thanks so much in advance!
2lek103
Sounds like one of the Christopher Pike books that traumatized me as a pre-teen circa the early '90s, but maybe I'm wrong...
3dorothean
This is really just a guess, but Penelope Farmer seems to like the idea of reincarnation in her children's/YA novels, and she's written a lot that I haven't read so perhaps your book is one of hers.
4wonderlake
I used to love Christopher Pike !
But I don't think it sounds like any of the ones I can remember reading :(
But I don't think it sounds like any of the ones I can remember reading :(
5Cora_Zane
I'm looking for this book, also. I purchased a copy of it from Scholastic book club through my school sometime between 1983-1986, so it is an older title, possibly even from the late 70s.
You gave a fantastic plot overview, and added a lot of information that I didn't remember until I read your post. To add to what you have, the old man's name was Teddy, Ted once he was older, and the girl from the story remembered that he once put a spider under a teacup right before a group of ladies were set to have tea.
Oh! One more thing. One of the reincarnation dreams the girl has is of running through the cemetery, and someone dragging a stick along a slatted fence.
I hope someone will come across the book clues and be able to tell us what this one is. I'd love to read it again!
You gave a fantastic plot overview, and added a lot of information that I didn't remember until I read your post. To add to what you have, the old man's name was Teddy, Ted once he was older, and the girl from the story remembered that he once put a spider under a teacup right before a group of ladies were set to have tea.
Oh! One more thing. One of the reincarnation dreams the girl has is of running through the cemetery, and someone dragging a stick along a slatted fence.
I hope someone will come across the book clues and be able to tell us what this one is. I'd love to read it again!
6Cora_Zane
I found it! The book with Teddy and the girl playing Three Blind Mice on the piano is called On That Dark Night by Carol Beach York.
7bookel
On that dark night by Carol Beach York. Ah I've got that, yet to read. The song detail was something you'd recognise if you'd read the book. Of course, it does sound like her style of writing from the ones I've read; not always a happy ending. It does look
good.
good.
10bookel
Where's the other one MJ was looking for? Don't know if they're coming back ... left a PM but no response.
