Vera Kelsey's authoritative knowledge of Brazil lends great color and depth to her first mystery story. The foreign colony in Rio de Janeiro formed a group visited by murder, influenced by money and hemmed in by their isolation. The death of Jack Houghton, leader of that colony, was as much a relief to some of his former associates as it was a shock to his sister-in-law, Jane. Jane was due for disillusionment as the investigation of Houghton's death revealed more and more his double dealings, his ruthlessness and his cruelty. Jack Houghton had aroused fierce hatred in many people, one of whom had used the rare little seeds of death to bring about his murder and had left a bunch of coffee leaves as another crime of violence. In a denouement which holds suspense to the very end, Jane finally found not only a murderer but release from her grief and a new understanding of two men. The Owl Sang Three Times was published in 1941.