SOLVED. YA mystery with missing heiress, monkies and coloured contacts [s]

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Ok, I read this a LONG time ago (late 60's early 70's). What I mostly remember is that this elderly character's child and grandchild disappear off the coast of Mexico while on a boating trip. One day, many years later, this young woman shows up who seems to know some things about the missing family--she finds the little girls doll which has been stuffed behind the seat of the family limo and some other stuff. I think that the "detectives" in the book are the children of either a neighbor or possibly of a servant in the house (I'm thinking either cook or chauffeur) and they are going back and forth on if the young woman can be/not be the missing granddaughter. There is some confusion at first, because the one thing that that is remembered about the girl is her eyes (they are either blue or brown--sorry, can't remember which) and this young woman has eyes the other colour. The kids have a pet monkey, (at least, I think its a monkey) definately a pet who "steals" things that it finds interesting. One day they discover the pet with a little case that they can't figure out what is. They see the woman again just afterwards and discover that she actually has eyes the correct colour--but she'd been wearing coloured contacts. This really struck me as strange, since when I read it contacts were a "new invention" and to actually have COLOURED contacts was almost unheard of. (view spoiler)[ Anyway, it turns out the young woman IS the missing granddaughter. She'd survived the boat sinking, but had had no memories for many years of what had happened before she was found washed up on a beach in Mexico. When she finally started remembering things, she headed back to the town she remembered and then started finding things that she'd hidden as a child. (hide spoiler)]

[Ann aka Iftcan]

bump

[HeavyReader]

Hey there! Thought this one could use a bump.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

bump

[Ann aka Iftcan]

bump

[Andria]

The description doesn't seem to match, but I'm going to throw this out there just in case: there's one in the Trixie Belden series titled The Mystery of the Missing Heiress

[Ann aka Iftcan]

it is definately NOT a Trixie Belden book. Altho I do admit, I was reading those at about the same time that I read the one I'm looking for. But in the one I'm searching for, there is no organized group, just a couple of kids who are either siblings or close friends. Sorry. :o(

[Ann aka Iftcan]

bump

[Kate]

I can think of a book that has a similar story line, but I don't think it's the one. However, just in case:

Father's Arcane Daughter

[Ann aka Iftcan]

It doesn't look quite right--but I've put in a request to the library and will see in a few days if it is that or not.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Well, having finally had the book Father's Arcane Daughter come in, I can now safely say--that ain't it. Altho it IS set in about the right time period, mine didn't have a kidnapping, and it wasn't her parents that were hoping she show up, it was her grandparent(s).

And I don't remember anything about one of the children having any kind of a handicap, as this one does.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Bump

[Ann aka Iftcan]

bump

[Ann aka Iftcan]

bump

[Ann aka Iftcan]

bump

I think it was the grandmother that was the one still alive.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Bump

[Ann aka Iftcan]

bump

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Bump

[Ann aka Iftcan]

bump

[Ann aka Iftcan]

bump

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Bump

[Juels]

Silverhill by Phyllis A. Whitney?

[Tab]

Ann aka Iftcan, when the young woman arrives, do you remember where she is staying? Is she visiting the grandmother? Is she working as a maid, babysitter, etc?

Was it part of a series?
Anything about the cover?

[Ann aka Iftcan]

I don't think its SIlverhill Juels, thanks though

Tab, it's been a very long time, like going on 40 or 50 years, since I read the book. I don't remember what she was doing, or even if she was working. Nor do I have any memory of a cover. I don't think it was part of a series.

As I said--the pet monkey, the eye colour, and the contacts were the big things that I remember from it. I'd never even heard of contact lens when I read the book, much less coloured ones. (And I was really jealous, since I was one of those kids who wore the coke-bottle-bottom glasses because I was so near-sighted.)

[Ann aka Iftcan]

bump

[Ann aka Iftcan]

bump

[Ann aka Iftcan]

bump

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Coloured contact bump

[Connie]

The Seventh Cousin https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

[Ayshe]

It does have coloured lenses: https://books.google.bg/books?hl=bg&a...
Mrs. Carter looked at her and cried out: "You have blue eyes!" "Of course she has," said Patty. "She has been asleep and isn't wearing her contact lenses." She explained to her mother the confusion over the color of Linda's eyes and how it had convinced them that she could not be the heiress.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Wow--I'm going to have to find a copy of that and see if it is my book. That's the closest I've seen to it.

And as luck would have it--Amazon has a couple of copies of it that aren't too much. So, now to wait and see if that's it. . .

Crossing my toes, since I can't cross my fingers and still type. :o)

[Juels]

I think you have a winner. It also has the hidden doll and the pet monkey. Way to go Connie!

"About a doll I lost when I was sitting in this car with a dear old lady. Then I remembered. I was cross and I stuffed it behind the seat. So tonight I felt I couldn't wait until morning to come and see if it was here."

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Only SIX YEARS to find this. Thank you, thank you thank you. I am now clutching a copy of this book in my hot little hands (and have already finished reading it again.)

I was ssooo happy to find this. Now if the rest could just be found. :o)