The Sherwood Ring/ Elizabeth Marie Pope / 256 p.

                  Peggy Grahame is orphaned at seventeen, and heads with ambivalence and perhaps a little apprehension to the family New England mansion to live with her withdrawn Uncle Enos, who is obsessed with keeping Rest-and-be-thankful as close to its condition during the Revolutionary War as possible. But before she even arrives at the house, she gets lost in the woods and is given directions by a girl in a red cloak on horseback, who disappears before she can thank her. Peggy quickly discovers that the girl is the ghost of Barbara Grahame, the daughter of the house during the war. As Peggy becomes friends with Pat, a visiting scholar from England who is researching the history of guerrilla warfare in the area during the revolution, she is visited by more ghosts and begins to discover that their story holds the secret to the current mysteries of the house. And all the mysteries seem to center around the figure of Peaceable Drummond Sherwood, a mysterious and brilliant English officer who led a band of renegades on raids that plague the Continental army. 

                   This story is a humorous and touching love story, with just the right amount of star-crossed escapades and a dash of mystery. Peggy’s story takes a back seat to the story of the ghosts, as they take turns telling their story.  These ghosts are not grim at all, but as enjoyably kind, clever, and sardonic as the best character in a regency romance who ever quirked an eyebrow. The reader is carried away by the exasperation of Barbara’s brother Dick, as he tried to capture Peaceable, and deal with the troublesome Eleanor Shipley who has captured his heart but taunts him mercilessly, and Eleanor, who has been trying for years to get him to notice her.  But the story we care about most is the unfolding sparring and love between Barbara and Peaceable himself. . .

It’s a short, quick book (with illustrations!) that make it seem like an elementary-level title, but the story and age of the characters make it fit better in a young adult collection (though there is no mature content). I first read it in my mid-teens and adored it, and this re-reading was still very satisfying, as it has one of my favorite romantic scenes of all time. I wouldn’t call it a mystery, the way it is billed, but rather as a cozy romance with a little light adventure on the side.