The Sally Baxter Girl Reporter Series
Stories from the Cherry Ames Annuals

"The Mannequin Mystery"

Sally expects that chaperoning the young winner of the Evening Cry mannequin contest will be boring but finds her prediction to be completely wrong.  Heather Cheam is picked by a mannequin agency in Paris to sign a contract even before she completes her training.  After Heather's training is complete, Sally accompanies Heather to Paris where Heather lands a job modeling for an exclusive designer.

All appears to be going well when Sally and Heather are accused of helping others copy the exclusive designs.  One of Sally's reporter notebooks has been found full of sketches of the designs.  Heather loses her position, and Sally must find a way to prove their innocence.  After some lengthy brainstorming, Sally hits upon the clue that leads them to the real culprit, thereby clearing herself and Heather of the serious charges against them.

"Avalanche Adventure"

Sally heads to Switzerland to interview a group of wealthy young people who are having a skiing holiday.  At first Sally finds it difficult to break into the circle of friends, but Dimitri invites Sally for a day of skiing and introduces her to the rest of his friends.  Only Sandra Carton, a wealthy South American, rebuffs Sally's friendship.  Sandra is furious when she learns that Sally spent the day with Dimitri, telling Sally to stay away from her boyfriend.  Sandra forbids Sally from writing anything of her day with Dimitri, even going so far as to tear up Sally's story and cutting the phone line so that Sally cannot dictate her story.

Undaunted, Sally heads out on skis in the middle of the night to find another telephone.  During her journey, Sally is caught in an avalanche and nearly buried alive.  After a great struggle, Sally continues her journey and reaches the hospital, where she is put to bed.  Hours later, Sally learns that Sandra was distraught when she heard that Sally had left to find a phone and had gone after her.  Sandra was caught in a second avalanche and is missing.  Finally, Sandra is found, and Sally again tries to be friendly with her.  Sally is again rebuffed and leaves for London.  Months later, Sally receives a visit from Sandra, who is now engaged to a doctor and has learned that friends are more important than money.  Sally is supremely satisfied that her trip to Switzerland now has a happy ending.

"The Missing Patient"

Sally fretfully spends the last few days of her stay in Portugal in the hospital with a swollen, infected hand.  The monotonous hospital routine is broken when a girl with amnesia is brought to the other bed in Sally's room.  The girl cries out the name 'Raoul' in her sleep, as if she is afraid.

Late at night, two orderlies move the girl to another room, and the next morning, Sally learns that the girl is missing and that the men abducted the girl.  The hospital's personnel suspect Sally of being involved and at first refuse to allow her to leave.  Sally is finally permitted to leave, and with the help of Olivetta, one of the nurses, Sally attempts to trace the missing girl.

Sally enlists Grace's help back at the newspaper.  Grace discovers that the girl is Suzy Fleur, who is to turn 21 the next day, and will lose her fortune to her uncle, Raoul, if she does not sign the necessary papers on her birthday.  Sally and Olivetta carry out a daring plan to rescue Suzy from her uncle's clutches, and with the help of the police, they succeed.

"Television Rivals"

Sally is put in charge of a new television show the Evening Cry is producing in competition with a rival newspaper.  Sally plans to interview a teenager for the show but is disappointed in the teenager that Jack Smith, the producer, finds for her.  Sally finds a much better girl, Cathleen Forsyth, but Jack refuses to use her.  Sally insists, but a fire occurs at the studio and Jack claims that the evidence shows that Cathleen is responsible.  Meanwhile, someone made a phone call to Cathleen pretending to be Sally, inducing Cathleen to work for Sally's rival.

Sally is furious.  Someone is sabotaging her program!  Sally continues to make plans, now deciding to get a rock star on her show.  Another mysterious call is made to the star canceling his appearance and once again sabotaging Sally's plans.  Sally cannot complete her show until she discovers who is sabotaging it and why.  A bit of ingenuity leads Sally to the culprit, and in a match of wits, Sally wins and is able to go forward with her show.

"The Spanish Picture Mystery"

Sally's relaxing cruise on the Mediterranean comes to an unexpected end when she befriends three young artists who sell paintings to tourists.  A painting that one of the artists has just completed has been stolen!  It was painted on a used canvas over another painting.  The thief specifically wanted the one painting of a bull, which was purchased from a junk dealer.  Why would anybody want a worthless painting?

The painting must be a valuable one, and the young people get a friend to help them get back the stolen portrait.  They succeed, only to have it stolen again!  Finally, Sally contacts the police, and with their help, the thief is captured, and the young people learn that the portrait is very valuable and has been missing for many years.

"The Moonstone Ring"

Don Howe asks Sally to cover the opening of a castle by its owner, Tony Dunson.  At the opening, Tony's cousin, Rhona, addresses the reporters and leads them to believe that she and Tony are to be married.  Sally wanders around the castle, running into Giovanna Scala, an Italian maid who works at the castle.  Giovanna shows Sally a few of the family heirlooms and confesses that she and Tony are to be married.  Sally is excited about this great scoop that none of the other reporters will get.

The next day, Giovanna is missing and the heirlooms that she showed Sally have disappeared.  Rhona furiously blames Giovanna for the theft and blames Sally for printing the story.  Sally's reputation as a reporter is at stake because Rhona claims that Giovanna's story is false, and Tony cannot be located, making verification of Sally's story impossible.

Tony is finally located and Sally finds him with Giovanna.  Sally is pleased to learn that Tony intends to marry Giovanna and that her reputation as a reporter is safe.  Sally helps Tony confront Rhona, who reveals what actually happened to the family heirlooms.