The Mystery of Mary

By: Grace Livingston Hill

Narrated by: Tom Weiss

The Mystery of Mary is one of Grace Livingston Hill's earliest books, copyrighted in 1910. Hill was a prolific author during her lifetime. This is just one of more than 100 novels. It's a typical Hill romance but may have more mystery than some.

Tryon Dunham, a wealthy attorney is approached by a young woman who is running from some unknown danger. She is beautiful, well dressed, and obviously educated. She won't tell the young man why she's running, but he decides he will help her.

Tryon arranges to take her along to a dinner party to which he has an invitation. At the dinner party, "Mary" (the name Tryon has given her) plays the piano beautifully and charms his hostess and the other guests. But, she is desperate to escape, so he provides her a ticket for a train to Chicago.

Unable to get her off his mind, he decides he must find her again. He doesn't even know her name, so finding her seems an impossible task. Undaunted, he goes to Chicago in search of her.

Public Domain (P)2019 Tom Weiss

Old fashioned romance

I used to read Grace Livingston Hill books in the 70s when other women were reading Harlequin (ugh). They were, of course, quite dated even then but I found it interesting to hear these simple stories from another time yet gain. This is from the era of Ann of Green Gables, though not that quality and early Nancy Drew books only it's a romantic damsel in distress. Irritating to the modern woman in some ways, yet with a certain amount of charm when read with understanding of the times.

I agree the narrator isn't the best but I got sort of used to him as I listened on.

Story line not everyone's cup of tea, but like I said, I enjoy the occasional escape into the past. Not what you call literature but an interesting story within the values of the time in which it was written.

Mrs Graces' Books

I have read Mrs. Hills books since I was 10 yrs old. I began collecting her books when mom and I stopped at a new used book store. He had 10 of her books. Mom bought 5 and I bought the other 5.. In 1990, I drove by Grace's Home in Pa. and also saw the church she attended. While in the NW part of the US, I bought every book of hers I could find. In my library I have 102 of her titles. My sister also had a lot of her books too.
After I married, every night I would read a chapter or two before going to sleep. My husband would ask me about the story. I finally told him if he wanted to know , he would have to read the story himself. I woke up at 4 AM to find him reading my book. He had never read a book from cover to cover til then. He read 23 of her books before he found 'Harold Bell Wrights' books.
April Gold and Enchanted Barn are my favorites. some books I have read several times. But all at least once. My daughter got me hooked on Audible books. So now when I travel I can just listen to my favorite books.

Story is fine, but terrible narrorator

Narrorator reads haltingly and has really weird voice inflection and random puases. It's hard to listen to.

Embarrassing narration!2

Narrator was so bad I couldn’t hear what story plot was meant to be!!
Is there another worth Narrator?

Story was a typical GLH, but Narration bad.

Male narrater sounded like a well-meaning volunteer reading aloud, good for the blind who cannot read print, but well below any professional reader's standards. Book was fine, although a very early book by Grace Livingston Hill. Wish I could get some professional recordings of her many great books publicshed in the 1920s to 1940s.