Beverly Gray is a series of mystery stories comprising 26 novels, and published between 1934 and 1955, by Clair Blank. The novels began as a series of school stories, following the progress of Beverly, its main character, through college, various romances, and a career as a reporter, before evolving strictly into a mystery series.
Beverly is portrayed as an extraordinarily determined individual, with "a driving ambition in her heart that would not let her idle her life away". Across 26 books, she leads "such a life of adventure as would tax the resources of any soap opera heroine".
Books
#TitleCopyright1Beverly Gray, Freshman19342Beverly Gray, Sophomore19343Beverly Gray, Junior19344Beverly Gray, Senior19345Beverly Gray's Career1935(6)*Beverly Gray at the World's Fair19356/7Beverly Gray on a World Cruise19367/8Beverly Gray in the Orient19378Beverly Gray on a Treasure Hunt19389Beverly Gray's Return193910Beverly Gray, Reporter194011Beverly Gray's Romance194112Beverly Gray's Quest194213Beverly Gray's Problem194314Beverly Gray's Adventure194415Beverly Gray's Challenge194516Beverly Gray's Journey194617Beverly Gray's Assignment194718Beverly Gray's Mystery194819Beverly Gray's Vacation194920Beverly Gray's Fortune195021Beverly Gray's Secret195122Beverly Gray's Island Mystery195223Beverly Gray's Discovery195324Beverly Gray's Scoop195425Beverly Gray's Surprise1955 *This title was dropped from the series in 1938.
Beverly Gray, Freshman
Beverly Gray, Freshman is the first book in the Beverly Gray series. Published concurrently in 1934 with Sophomore, Junior, and Senior, it introduces Beverly as a freshman at Vernon College.
Beverly makes her first appearance as she steps off the train carrying her to Vernon College. She is accompanied by her childhood friend, Anne White. They attend Vernon to follow in their mothers' footsteps. Beverly's mother is described as "the patron saint of Vernon College".
The two girls settle into life at Vernon College, where Beverly's paternal surname affords her anonymity as she attempts to succeed "on her own merits, not under another's colors". Three of the other four freshmen in her dormitory, Lenora Whitehill, Rosalie Arnold, and Lois Mason, prove friendly, while Beverly's roommate Shirley Parker is "aloof" and "patronizing". These girls variously join Beverly in the seven chapters preceding winter break, where they break curfew to view a movie (chapter 2); are caught (chapter 3); are hazed by the sophomores and juniors (chapter 4); gain revenge by crashing the junior and sophomore masquerade dance (chapter 5); scrape through a geometry examination (chapter 6); and beat the juniors in a basketball game (chapter 7).
Winter break sees Beverly and Anne reunite the "Lucky Circle", a collection of eight childhood friends, and together they go camping. As the group returns home, they become lost in a blizzard. The boys in the group try to find their way back, with Beverly leading them. She sprains her ankle, falls down a hill, and awakes to the sight of a tall and disheveled-looking woman. The "hermit woman of Dunnsville", or "Big Bertha", as she calls herself, is a homicidal escapee from a sanitarium. Bertha believes Beverly to be the daughter for whose death she was responsible and starts treating her ankle. During Beverly's second night of captivity, she sneaks away while Bertha sleeps, but she falls into a pit trap and climbs out to find herself face to face with a bear. Bertha arrives and fights the animal. They return to the cabin, where Beverly's father shows up to rescue her, and Bertha escapes.
During the spring term, Beverly discovers that Shirley is sneaking out at night to meet a man, Tom. He exhorts her to run away with him, and Shirley agrees to go the next night. Beverly, Anne, Lenora, Lois, and Rosalie confront her to no avail. Shirley leaves but returns shortly thereafter.
Shirley is a new woman upon her return and is no longer unfriendly, losing her aloofness toward Beverly when the latter saves her from a fire. Beverly ends up in the college infirmary with her mother watching over her, and Shirley visits to offer her friendship.
The remainder of Beverly's first year passes quickly. Shirley performs in a play and is asked to join a theater company over the summer. Tom, who witnesses her performance, is rebuffed again when he attempts to woo her. He returns as Beverly and Shirley walk back to their dormitory, confronting them with a revolver and demanding ten thousand dollars from Shirley's rich father, threatening to sell the "story of the rich Shirley Parker who was going to run away with a thief" to the newspapers. Shirley calls his bluff, and Beverly whacks his wrist with a stick causing him to drop the gun. Tom leaves, and Shirley keeps his revolver as a memento. The book ends with a going-away party at the students' favorite ice cream parlor, where Beverly's friends gather for a celebration in her honor. The college dean gives a toast, and Beverly is given an engraved watch.
Beverly Gray, Sophomore
Beverly Gray, Sophomore explores the mystery that the series would become known for. Beverly spends most of her year investigating a seemingly haunted mansion used by drug smugglers. She also manages to foil a jewel theft over winter break, survive a plane crash, and solve the theft of a set of history examination questions.
Now in their second year at Vernon College, the six main girls reunite in Beverly's room and form a sorority, the "Alpha Delta Sorority". Beverly joins the Comet, the college paper, as an entry into a literary career. The Comets editor, Alison Cox, assigns Beverly to investigate the strange happenings in the abandoned Horler Mansion, a decaying structure whose last owner was reportedly murdered.
In her first trip to the house, Beverly encounters an unkempt man with a "long, evil-looking scar". The man warns Beverly of "ghosts", introduces himself as "the head ghost", and escorts her "roughly" to the door. Beverly gains reentry through a back window and discovers "pink packets filled with a finely ground powder" in the mansion's attic. Beverly leaves without taking a sample, and when she returns three days later "all the boxes [are] gone". The mystery deepens when various Alpha Delta girls observe "a skeleton dance" on successive nights, where ten skeletons move in "queer jerky steps" in the mansion while "making chill-provoking groans and murmurs".
Beverly's next trip inside the house finds her face to face with a handsome young man named Larry. He remains mysterious to Beverly, who can't figure out whether he is one of the "ghosts" or not. Nevertheless, she is attracted to him. On Halloween, dressed in a Robin Hood costome, Larry crashes the sophomore dance, the same one that Beverly herself crashed the year before. He claims to be there to "ask questions about the Horler Mansion", and he shares two dances with Beverly.
On Beverly's third visit to the Horler Mansion, she encounters another sinister character. Through the window, she sees the grotesque face of a "Chinaman". Beverly continues exploring when the man does not reappear, but upon making her way back to the attic, she is locked in by "the head ghost". Larry arrives to pull her out through the skylight, and they escape together. Two days later, Beverly's friend Lenora vanishes inside the mansion, and Beverly and Shirley go after her. In the scene depicted on the book's dust jacket, they run from their dormitory to the mansion, where they find Lenora unconscious in the cellar. They determine that she tripped on a broken step and fell, while Larry arrives to aid the girls as they take Lenora back to campus.
On Thanksgiving, Yale plays Jackson College. Beverly and Anne are at the Yale Bowl to witness Jim Stanton, a childhood friend who has a crush on Beverly, score a touchdown. Yale wins, and at that night's celebratory dance Jim suddenly kisses Beverly. The chapter concludes, and Jim is not mentioned again in Sophomore. The girls return to Vernon College to hear that an unidentified man was shot near the Horler Mansion while they were away.
Before the mysteries surrounding Horler Mansion can be investigated any further, the six Alpha Delpha girls travel to Shirley's residence in New York City for the Christmas holidays. Shirley's parents prove too distracted with their own lives to pay attention to their daughter and her friends. The girls pass the time by attending a number of upscale parties. At one of these events, Beverly is approached by Charlie Blaine, a reporter for the Herald Tribune. They find they have much in common, including both being reporters. The following afternoon, he takes the girls sightseeing around the best and worst parts of the city.
Two days after their tour of Manhattan, Charlie Blaine invites Beverly to help him cover a ball in honor of the "Duke of Abernethy". Beverly dances with the "Comte de Bourgeine", who seems particularly "fond of jewels". Soon after, one of the attendees reports her bracelet has been stolen. Beverly sees the count slip away, and overhears him on the telephone, declaring that "I've got it". While Charlie leaves to get the police, Beverly confronts the thief, scuffling with him long enough for two officers to arrive and arrest him. In the morning, the Herald Tribune prints the story of her efforts. With their holiday adventures at an end, the girls take the train back to Vernon.
On Beverly's next trip to the Horler Mansion, she again encounters "that evil-looking Chinaman", who warns her away in broken English. She then contacts Inspector Dugan of the Vernon police, who suggests that "the most logical explanation" is that the men are "smuggling drugs into this country" from "the Orient". The inspector leaves to unsuccessfully search for the men in the mansion. Beverly follows later and conveniently sees the "Chinaman" using a secret passage hidden behind the front room's fireplace. She enters it and discovers an opium den, but the secret door closes, trapping her inside. Unable to escape, she decides to wait for the man to return. In the resulting confrontation, the "Chinaman" is introduced as "Wah Fang", and Pete (the "head ghost") threatens to put Beverly "on a boat bound for China". Larry and Inspector Dugan arrive to break down the dividing wall, but not before Wah Fang chokes Beverly unconscious. He then attacks Larry, but is shot by the inspector before inflicting any harm. The next day, Beverly and Larry arrive at the inspector's office and the final details of the mystery are explained. Larry is employed by the Secret Service and has been chasing the gang of smugglers from the beginning. His partner is revealed to have been the unknown man who was shot, a crime to which Pete confesses. Other smugglers were also involved, and the "skeleton dance" is explained by the men donning "black suits" with "bones in phosphorescent paint" in order scare people away.
The mysterious goings on at the Horler Mansion may be over, but the same cannot be said for Sophomore. Beverly's adventures continue in a plane crash with Larry, who has promised to take her flying in his monoplane. Their plane is caught in a storm and its engine fails. Beverly and Larry are "thrown clear" of the wreckage, sustaining "a broken rib" and "a broken arm" respectively. A hike through the surrounding woods takes them to the house of poor farmers, who call for a doctor. The doctor alerts Beverly's friends, who arrive with Inspector Dugan in the inspector's car. Beverly and Larry soon recover from their injuries.