SHYRLE HACKER, born in San Fran-
  cisco, studied ballet as a child and later 
  became a professional dancer traveling 
  with ballet and musical comedy troupes. 
  After six years she returned to California, 
  married, and opened her own school of 
  ballet. During the time she spent teaching 
  she wrote her own fantasy ballets for her 
  pupils. After her young son and daughter 
  arrived, she devoted much of her time to 
  writing travel articles and short stories. 
  Mrs. Hacker is a member of the California 
  Writer's Club and The National League of 
  American Pen Women.

  THE house on San Francisco Bay was tall 
  and dark and spooky, and the two maiden 
  aunts with whom nine-year-old Tam was 
  going to live for a year were the strangest 
  people! Tam wondered how she could bear 
  the months ahead. 

  Then she met Mars, the houseboat boy, 
  and the two of them opened the old 
  warehouse on the wharf with the silver key 
  Tam had found in the ballet school, and 
  after that Tam would not have exchanged 
  that summer for any other in her life. In the 
  old warehouse she found not only something 
  too beautiful for words, but also a pipe- 
  smoking ghost and a mystery that haunted 
  both the warehouse and the old mansion 
  where her aunts lived. 

  Here is a book for all young mystery 
  fans, and especially for those who, like 
  Tam, have dreamed of dancing on a real 
  stage.