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The Mystery of the Gulls
Name on inside front page. Slight spine and front cover crease. Very clean and intact. Ships very quickly and packaged very carefully!
175 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1949
About the author
Phyllis A. Whitney
185 books585 followersPhyllis Ayame Whitney (1903 – 2008) was an American mystery writer. Rare for her genre, she wrote mysteries for both the juvenile and the adult markets, many of which feature exotic locations. A review in The New York Times once dubbed her "The Queen of the American Gothics".
She was born in Japan to American parents and spent her early years in Asia. Whitney wrote more than seventy novels. In 1961, her book The Mystery of the Haunted Pool won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Juvenile novel, and she duplicated the honor in 1964, for The Mystery of the Hidden Hand. In 1988, the MWA gave her a Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement. Whitney died of pneumonia on February 8, 2008, aged 104.
She was born in Japan to American parents and spent her early years in Asia. Whitney wrote more than seventy novels. In 1961, her book The Mystery of the Haunted Pool won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Juvenile novel, and she duplicated the honor in 1964, for The Mystery of the Hidden Hand. In 1988, the MWA gave her a Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement. Whitney died of pneumonia on February 8, 2008, aged 104.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 23, 2017
Phyllis A. Whitney's narration, description, and dialogue are excellent and her trademark mastery of reconstructing unique places are in top form. You are sure she visited Mackinac Island, Michigan; free of motor vehicles. Indeed, Phyllis insisted upon making vacations of her settings to bring them to her pages properly. Place and culture are her gifts, this time a small taste of American Indian legends. Our flavour is mainly this island, its inhabitants, sea gulls, and loyal guests. Taffy and Betty Saunders are instantly likeable and deserve to succeed with Aunt Martha's hotel.
Don't be surprised to encounter Asia! Our authoress was born in Japan and schooled in China, seeing her parents' birthplace at 16: the United States. Rich roots and a migratory upbringing furnish her special touches. I give high 3 stars. Phyllis penned more profound stories, like her 5-star novel, also in 1949: "Mystery Of The Strange Traveller". What dims mystique is that "The Mystery Of The Gulls" centers on a competition for an inheritance. You don't know who is scaring guests. The revelation is startling. However the two principal plots aren't the aspects of this novel that shine.
Celeste, a gifted cook, was unconvincing as a superstitious or exotic woman because she made a caricature. The secondary lacklustre plot is knowing the culmination of mystery and excitement entail opening a door. Betty could jimmy it and most glaringly, should have demanded the key of a brashly-entitled cook! She snidely said she hid it because she didn't believe it safe to open that room. For Heaven's sake, the hotel was Betty's for the summer. Celeste's in-demand food does not excuse insubordinate conduct under Betty's management, even if temporarily. My favourite part was when staff feared Celeste quitting, Betty's reply was: "Good! She was more trouble than she was worth"!
Don't be surprised to encounter Asia! Our authoress was born in Japan and schooled in China, seeing her parents' birthplace at 16: the United States. Rich roots and a migratory upbringing furnish her special touches. I give high 3 stars. Phyllis penned more profound stories, like her 5-star novel, also in 1949: "Mystery Of The Strange Traveller". What dims mystique is that "The Mystery Of The Gulls" centers on a competition for an inheritance. You don't know who is scaring guests. The revelation is startling. However the two principal plots aren't the aspects of this novel that shine.
Celeste, a gifted cook, was unconvincing as a superstitious or exotic woman because she made a caricature. The secondary lacklustre plot is knowing the culmination of mystery and excitement entail opening a door. Betty could jimmy it and most glaringly, should have demanded the key of a brashly-entitled cook! She snidely said she hid it because she didn't believe it safe to open that room. For Heaven's sake, the hotel was Betty's for the summer. Celeste's in-demand food does not excuse insubordinate conduct under Betty's management, even if temporarily. My favourite part was when staff feared Celeste quitting, Betty's reply was: "Good! She was more trouble than she was worth"!
April 4, 2018
One of Phyllis A. Whitney’s leading characteristics as a writer is the ability to utterly transport a reader to a location – any location – and steep you in it’s atmosphere. There were intriguing references to Mackinaw’s unique history that had me captivated and made me desperately wish I could visit. Taffy Saunders is a sweet and relatable heroine with a believable goal and she is a satisfactory narrator for a easy-going but entertaining mystery that held my attention for every page.
May 28, 2017
Phyllis Whitney has a way of adding description to a place that makes you feel you've been there. I plan on visiting Mackinac Island because it sounds so beautiful. Taffy Saunders and her mother arrive on Mackinac Island to take over a hotel left to her by an eccentric aunt. A rather frivolous Mrs. Saunders must run the hotel successfully for a summer to claim ownership. Sunset House is steeped in mystery, old legends, and hostility and soon Taffy realizes that someone wants them to fail. Taffy is a nicely rounded out character. Less obvious in her motives is Diana, her age, whose mother is the manager. There's a mysterious Native American boy and another boy named David who comes to the island to stay with his grandmother each summer. Taffy hopes they can all be friends but first she has to unravel what is going on behind the scenes.
February 21, 2015
Beautifully crafted, lovely story. Moral, without being preachy. She knows how to speak from a young girl's perspective. Her heroine is fun and perky, not perfect -- someone you'd like to be, or be friends with. The mystery itself developed and culminated very well, with all the fun elements of a young adult's story: friends, nature, a locked room, a musty attic, summer, signals in windows -- just lots of fun and mystery!
I feel sort of silly giving a children's book 5-stars, and maybe some of it is due to nostalgia, but I just really enjoyed reading this book!
I feel sort of silly giving a children's book 5-stars, and maybe some of it is due to nostalgia, but I just really enjoyed reading this book!
March 8, 2010
I LOVE Mackinac Island! True to Whitney's style, her background & research of the "place" in this story is terrific. For a real life day on the Island, her authentic setting is better than a tour guide. The first time I visited Mackinac as a kid, I fancied myself living out the story. Now THAT'S how to write for a young reader!
November 1, 2011
I bought this book (sans dust jacket) at a book sale a few weeks ago for I think $2. I picked it up the other day and noticed in pencil it said it was a first edition (really?!) and they were charging $25! Guess I got a deal! Started to give this a go last night, and am now on page 57! Not sure if this is YA or not, but it's a nice, simple mystery where there's no blood but lots of intrigue. I'm waiting to find out what is the mystery with the gulls, and why young Donna is weird to Taffy!
I thought the name Phyllis Whitney was familiar, and I was right! She is the author of one of my favorite childhood mysteries, "The Mystery of the Green Cat!" San Francisco, Chinatown, and a jade cat. It was great!
I thought the name Phyllis Whitney was familiar, and I was right! She is the author of one of my favorite childhood mysteries, "The Mystery of the Green Cat!" San Francisco, Chinatown, and a jade cat. It was great!
February 25, 2014
I read this for the first time as a 64 year old guy, not as a teenager. I still enjoyed the book, but I enjoy Phyllis A Whitney adult books better. She is one of my favorite authors. Most of my favorite authors have died or are very near death now.
I probably enjoyed the book more than most people because my wife and I have visited Makinac Island and rode our bicycles all over the island. The landmarks were very familiar. Brought back pleasant memories. I like these old mysteries that don't include murder. Not many of those!
I probably enjoyed the book more than most people because my wife and I have visited Makinac Island and rode our bicycles all over the island. The landmarks were very familiar. Brought back pleasant memories. I like these old mysteries that don't include murder. Not many of those!
September 19, 2015
love this book, I've read it many times over the years.
May 25, 2026
I wanted to read this YA mystery after finding out that it is set on Mackinac Island. There's some wonderful descriptions of the island in this book, so it's clear the author spent some time there.
Taffy Saunders and her mother come to Mackinac one summer to run the Sunset House hotel, as specified in Mrs. Saunders' recently deceased aunt's will. If she is successful, then the hotel will be hers. Mrs. Saunders plans to sell the hotel and then use the funds to buy a larger home for her family.
The mystery centers around strange happenings that put Mrs. Saunders and the Sunset House in a bad light with hotel guests, so that no one will want to stay there any more, thus Mrs. Saunders not receiving the hotel after the summer trial period. But 12-year-old Taffy is undeterred and enlists the help of a boy named David to determine who is trying to sabotage her mother's efforts to run the hotel successfully.
Taffy is a typical 12-year-old, impulsive and acting first, thinking last. She meets other young people on the island, Donna and Henry, and wants to be their friend.
Favorite line: "It was as though the island were speaking to her across the water: Along my beaches, in the shadow of my trees, behind my guarding walls, and at the end of my trails, something awaits you. Sometimes you will be afraid, but you will not turn away. "
I really enjoyed this book--the descriptions took me back to Mackinac and Taffy is an engaging heroine. I would have loved this book when I was 12.
Taffy Saunders and her mother come to Mackinac one summer to run the Sunset House hotel, as specified in Mrs. Saunders' recently deceased aunt's will. If she is successful, then the hotel will be hers. Mrs. Saunders plans to sell the hotel and then use the funds to buy a larger home for her family.
The mystery centers around strange happenings that put Mrs. Saunders and the Sunset House in a bad light with hotel guests, so that no one will want to stay there any more, thus Mrs. Saunders not receiving the hotel after the summer trial period. But 12-year-old Taffy is undeterred and enlists the help of a boy named David to determine who is trying to sabotage her mother's efforts to run the hotel successfully.
Taffy is a typical 12-year-old, impulsive and acting first, thinking last. She meets other young people on the island, Donna and Henry, and wants to be their friend.
Favorite line: "It was as though the island were speaking to her across the water: Along my beaches, in the shadow of my trees, behind my guarding walls, and at the end of my trails, something awaits you. Sometimes you will be afraid, but you will not turn away. "
I really enjoyed this book--the descriptions took me back to Mackinac and Taffy is an engaging heroine. I would have loved this book when I was 12.
November 13, 2020
More two and a half stars, really, but I'll be generous as part of the problem is that I'm an adult reading a kid's book. Some books can make that jump, others just don't quite.
But this was a lot more like I remembered her books being. There's actually a mystery, people are invested in it, they work to solve it, and the mystery element is integrated with the slice of life (or whatever you want to call the just relationship and people stuff) element. It suffers a bit from being of its time. Like, back when it was written, it was probably fairly progressive in its treatment of characters. Time has marched on, however, and now the presentation of the Native American character and the superstitious mixed race character are....not so progressive. (Particularly they cook/chef character. Yikes.)
But it was more enjoyable than the previous two, despite its problems. However, I think this is one author I'm just going to leave in the past, now.
But this was a lot more like I remembered her books being. There's actually a mystery, people are invested in it, they work to solve it, and the mystery element is integrated with the slice of life (or whatever you want to call the just relationship and people stuff) element. It suffers a bit from being of its time. Like, back when it was written, it was probably fairly progressive in its treatment of characters. Time has marched on, however, and now the presentation of the Native American character and the superstitious mixed race character are....not so progressive. (Particularly they cook/chef character. Yikes.)
But it was more enjoyable than the previous two, despite its problems. However, I think this is one author I'm just going to leave in the past, now.
July 22, 2024
This is a reread from when I was a young reader. Many years ago!
My copy is the 1974 reprint from Signet. The copyright on this book is 1949!!! No wonder it seems so dated. As a kid I thought it was a newer book - the kids on the cover are dressed in 70s outfits.
Yipes, creepers are exclamations that adults condemn. Taffy doesn't want her mother wearing slacks because she wants her to make a good impression. They travel on a STEAMER to get to the Straits of Michigan!! Holy cow!
The cook's histrionics got old fast.
The mystery is good. I forgot who the bad guys were. It's tame in this time period. The author's descriptions of Mackinac Island are spot on. I've been there many times myself.
My copy is the 1974 reprint from Signet. The copyright on this book is 1949!!! No wonder it seems so dated. As a kid I thought it was a newer book - the kids on the cover are dressed in 70s outfits.
Yipes, creepers are exclamations that adults condemn. Taffy doesn't want her mother wearing slacks because she wants her to make a good impression. They travel on a STEAMER to get to the Straits of Michigan!! Holy cow!
The cook's histrionics got old fast.
The mystery is good. I forgot who the bad guys were. It's tame in this time period. The author's descriptions of Mackinac Island are spot on. I've been there many times myself.
June 20, 2026
Twelve-year-old Taffy is thrilled that her mother might inherit a hotel on Mackinac Island, if she runs it successfully over the summer, since when they sell it they will be able to buy a house of their own and not have to move constantly. But the hotel comes with a mystery—someone seems to be trying to scare them and/or their guest away? Who can it be? And why? With the help of David, another summer visitor, Taffy finds the answer. But why wouldn't she want to stay on Mackinac Island instead of living in Chicago?
April 24, 2020
I really savored this book. I have read several of Whitney’s Mysteries for Young Adults recently and this one is my favorite. The characters are well written and I loved the Makinac Island setting.
June 30, 2023
short read, old book. The main characters were pretty well developed. The story is about Taffy and the mystery regarding the hotel her mom is set to inherit.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews