ABANDONED. Family moves, summer time. Parents leave clues for kids. Kittens

[Kevin]

I read this when I was young, had to be the 70s and was probably published in the 70's as well. It was a paperback about a family that moved into a new house over the summer. They discovered a mystery of clues that led them on an adventure to find answers in their new house. In the end it's discovered the parents left the clues and kittens were involved somehow. The parents did this to help the kids adjust to the new home. About all I can remember.


Thanks for any help.

[bookel]

What year did you read it?
Probably not but made me think of Sea View Secret by Elizaeth Kinsey (Eleanor Clymer).

[bookel]

Cut/paste the second book into a separate query so they can be marked answered separately, and to avoid confusion with multiple book suggestions. Don't forget the year you read it. 1990? 1970? Late 1980s? etc.

[Kevin]

Ok, I'll paste the other separately. Thanks. The above had to have been published in the 70's as it was not an old book.

The Sea View Secret sounds very much like it, I'm going to see if I can find a bit more detail of the story. The book cover is not what I remember though and I would have sworn it wasn't as old as it would have been if that is it.

Thanks for the lead!

[bookel]

Check openlibrary.org for Sea View Secret. You can read it (borrow) for free.

[bookel]

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
Review of the Kinsey book. Not sure if that's exactly what you're after though.

[bookel]

Another possibility? Haven't read this.

The Pattersons at Turkey Hill House.
Author: Brenda Knight Graham; Charles Shaw
Publisher: Nashville : Broadman Press, ©1979.
Edition/Format: Book : Fiction : Juvenile audience : English
Database: WorldCat
Summary:
The summer the four Patterson children spend at Turkey Hill House, they meet a mysterious stranger and help their parents decide whether to move permanently to the country.


Do you recall what your book's cover looked like?

[Sue]

It might be 'Spiderweb For Two' by Elizabeth Enright, although they had been living in the house for some time.
"It's 1944 and Mona, Rush and Mark are at boarding school. Randy and Oliver are home without their siblings and aren't happy about the prospect of the school year without them. Things look pretty bleak until a letter addressed to Miss Miranda Melendy and Master Oliver Melendy arrives. It was postmarked from New York, but the children have no idea who it is from. Inside is a poem containing the first clue in what becomes a year-long treasure hunt. Randy and Oliver enjoy the adventures as they try to solve the clues that lead them into the following summer and a big surprise."

[Kevin]

It's none of those. I am surprised how many seem to share a very similar theme though. I could never be positive, but I feel like I would recognize it if I see it. I want to say it's a dark, maybe black background with 3-4 kids on porch steps of a house. Possibly holding kittens. The story was set at a new, to them, large older house in the country. To help the kids get used to the move, they followed clues to a mystery. Some of those clues led to a litter of kittens. About all I remember.

Again, thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

[bookel]

Bump

[Tab]

This sounds like Haunted House by Peggy Parish.

I skimmed through the book on OpenLibrary. The kids find kittens and the parents (view spoiler)[reveal that they setup the mystery (hide spoiler)], at the end of the book.

[Kris]

Kevin, are you still looking for this book or did you find it?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Kris wrote: "Kevin, are you still looking for this book or did you find it?"

No response in 2 years. Moving to Abandoned.