The Second Spy / Jacqueline West / 296 pages / 8 Maids a Milking & 11 Piper's Piping December Challenge

Olive Dunwoody is being stalked by the once dead Annabelle McMartin, one of the owners of the old Stone House on Linden Street.  The magical paintings are responsible for her resurrection.  They provide an avenue for adventure and escape for eleven year old Olive and painting-dweller, Morton.  The three house cats protect the kids whenever possible, but "as the last days of summer tiptoed past something else was creeping up on Olive.  Something that swelled and darkened like a bruise in the back of her mind.  Something even bigger and blacker and chillier than her own untimely and quite possibly impending death...junior high."  This third Book of Elsewhere is an entertaining and engaging read with important themes applicable to everyone.