Joan Lowery Nixon

"When their widowed mother can no longer support them, six siblings are sent on the orphan train by the Children's Aid Society of New York City to live with farm families in Missouri in 1860"--WorldCat.

In 1861, while living with his foster parents at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, twelve-year-old Mike Kelly and his best friend Todd Blakely join the Union army as drummer boys but their dreams of glory end when they experience the full horrors of war at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in Missouri.

In 1863, eleven-year-old Peg Kelly is drawn into the dangerous activities of a mysterious young woman who had come to her home in Missouri after fleeing the raid of William Quantrill and his raiders on Lawrence, Kansas.

Sixteen-year-old Mary Elizabeth's summer job at an expensive health club turns out to be more exciting than she bargained for when a series of mysterious events culminate in murder.

Following an act of vandalism against her father's girlfriend, seventeen-year-old Abbie is paired by the court with Mrs. Merkel, an eccentric elderly woman who is a member of the town's crime prevention group. When Mrs. Merkel is attacked and hospitalized after bragging that she is onto something, only Abbie, with the help of Mrs. Merkel's quirky notes, is in a position to find the assailant.

Ten-year-old Lucy, an orphan who wants a little sister more than anything, finds a very special one in the less than perfect family which she joins.

While working on a genealogy project for his seventh grade history class, Andy Bonner becomes determined to solve the mystery surrounding a distant relative who was accused of stealing the family fortune.

Cary finds her life in danger when she uncovers a plot to sabotage her father's political campaign for governor of Texas.

Sixteen-year-old Julie agrees to spend the summer at her great-aunt and uncle's ranch in Texas, but gets more than she bargained for when valuables suddenly start disappearing and it appears that there may be a murderer in their midst.

With her brother in a coma following a hit-and-run accident, a high school senior investigates the incident, stirring up animosity in the small, tight west Texas community where her family has recently moved.