Munsey's Magazine, December 1922

This December 1922 Munsey's Magazine installment features "Who Is Bronson Gurney?" by Grace Tyler Pratt, a domestic mystery. The narrator, Eliza Carter, a middle-aged New England housekeeper, arrives in September at the Gurney mansion in Fairport to manage it as a boarding house for a doctor, teacher, and others. The house belonged to the Gurney family; its owner Richard died fifteen years prior, leaving his son Bronson's inheritance conditional on his return within twenty years. Bronson disappeared at eighteen without trace. Carter learns household details from neighboring Mrs. Chester Peabody, including that the quiet Dr. Thorn recently arrived and that vivacious teacher Sylvia Brewster boards there. The narrative builds atmospheric tension through descriptions of the October storm, the pounding sea, and the housekeeper's growing unease. By October third, with the storm intensifying and Dr. Thorn away on a call, the mystery deepens subtly, establishing intrigue around Bronson's fate and the characters' secrets.