"The Haunted Pavilion" is a collection of nine Patricia McCune Irvine short stories for girls, ranging from ghosts in the pavilion, a rescue at Breakwater Beach, the night the town clock struck thirteen, to the mystery of the pinata, an unusual flight of Santa Claus at Christmastime, and others.

Claire's story of the challenges encountered by her large family as she and her siblings grew up through the Great Depression to the end of World War II.

Lori Stewart accepts the offer from her boss at the newspaper to travel on a Baltic Sea cruise, and to pose as a Secret Agent's wife, a man she's never met. She feels exhilarated and even a little noble. Their assignment is to rescue Alex Stepenski, trapped in Russia and in immediate danger. But other forces know of their mission, forces that will stop at nothing to prevent the escape of Alex Stepenski--even if it means murdering Lori.

Princess Loralyn lives in the large stone Palace with her father, King Bevan, her mother, Queen Avia, and her younger brother, Galen, who will some day be the king.

Gretchen Mueller's eventful life story goes back to Chicago in the late Thirties. Papa (Gerhard) tells of his boyhood in eastern Germany, and his admiration for Adolf Hitler. Wartime US authorities cannot tolerate Papa's allegiance to Germany and Gretchen's happy life becomes a series of painful changes and adjustments - she is a German in America and an American in Germany.