Horror on the Ruby X

Book excerpt: “The glamor of a luxury ranch house, a bejewelled and gifted Indian, a poisonous lady of the manor, two sons, worshipful and mysterious, a Puritanical spinster, an alluring secretary, and a succession of violent deaths and threats of death. Jeanie (naturally) accumulates evidence and trouble.”—Kirkus Pat and Jean Abbott find it impossible to obtain information from the people at the ranch; their host’s vengeful mother, Georgina Mackenzie, resents intrusion into the lives of her eccentric protégés. It soon becomes clear to the Abbotts that Mrs. Mackenzie’s handsome Navajo chauffeur and bodyguard actively resents their presence at the Ruby X. As they drive away in low gear, Pat attempts to negotiate the treacherous hill from the ranch to the Rio Grande. The gorge below seems like a gruesome black gash. Then, without warning, their car plummets madly toward the river’s brink, crashing to a dizzy, roaring halt.