OLD COACH ROAD Wilma Alexander. Toronto, ON: Overlea House, 1987. 138pp., paper, $3.95. ISBN 0-7172-2256-X. cloth, $15.95. ISBN 0-7172-2279-9. CIP. Subject Heading: Detective and mystery stories. Grades 5-8 / Ages 10-13 Reviewed by Susan Ratcliffe. Volume 16 Number 4 1988 July From its catchy opening sentence ringing with the sound of the ghostly bells to its ending where the bells have disappeared, this mystery novel is captivating and suspenseful. Twelve-year-old Sadie Flynn spends her nights in the past time of her family home, once an old stage-coach inn; she spends her days trying to flgure out the meaning of the nightly visitations from the belled horses, the stage-coach, and her troubled ancestor, Sarah. The characters are an appealing mix of types: her distracted artist mother who leaves her subjects sitting when she rushes off to attend to other things, her oddball brother Archie, her friend Jennifer who is jealous of Sadie's intact family and interesting house, and her rigid grandmother G.G., who has come to live with them for reasons other than those she claims. Except for her nightly brushes with another world, Sadie herself appears a typical adolescent caught between the desire to play baseball and to be a ballet dancer. The plot would interest a pre-teen lover of mysteries, especially since it has a local setting in southern Ontario. It has suspense, vivid descriptions, and interesting people. Susan Ratcliffe, Centennial Collegiate, Guelph, ON.