The secret of the gunshop has to be kept at all costs-especially from Tory spies, loyal to the king, and there are plenty of those around during the years just before the American Revolution. The question is-who are they? Everyone suspects everyone else and sometimes the wrong people are caught and punished by angry patriots. And when a wealthy English family, suspected to be loyalist spies, builds a handsome country house near the mill, Tabby is trapped between patriotism and her friendship with the new neighbors. Can she remain friends with Alice and Jack and still keep the crucial secret of the grist mill? "By making friends with Tories living nearby, Tabitha Copley caused a crisis in her own family and great concern in the town. This mystery of pre-Revolutionary days has a well-developed plot, good characterization, and gives an authentic picture of divided loyalties in a time of crisis." --Library Journal (1962) "More a portrait of the temper of the times and the way of life in rural New England than a mystery as the title may imply, this reveals an unusual spirit of friendship that prevails even in the face of divergent political feelings. Good supplementary reading for fifth and sixth graders studying this era." --Kirkus Reviews (1962)