Customer Reviews

The Mystery of the Gulls

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Phyllis A. Whitney is the author of a number of excellent mysteries geared at young adults. "Mystery of the Gulls" is her first such novel from 1949, and is near and dear to my heart. I spent idyllic childhood summers Up North, running around Petoskey, Harbor Springs, and Mackinac Island, Michigan since I was three years old, scooping up Petoskey stones, buying cheap trinkets, and biking around Mackinac Island. Every summer, I would take my battered copy of "Mystery of the Gulls" with me to Mackinac Island, since the novel takes place there.

Our heroine is Taffy Saunders of Chicago. Her father was seriously injured in a car accident, and she and her mother have recently inherited an inn on Mackinac Island. The novel begins with Taffy on the ferry to the Island (this was shortly before the Mackinac Bridge was completed), and she soon finds that mystery abounds as something (or someone) tries to frighten the inn's guests so that the Saunders leave. Mysterious events, including gulls tapping at the windows, a gong crashing in the middle of the night, and bones appearing in guests' beds send sleuthing Taffy on the trail, along with her new friend David Marsh. Taffy meets a colourful cast of characters on the Island, including temperamental French-Canadian/Indian cook Celeste, sullen Donna, who dreams of becoming a dancer, and Henry Fox, an Indian boy who serves as a guide for tourists.

Taffy must search for clues, leading her to some of Mackinac Island's best-known charms, Fort Mackinac and Arch Rock. This is a quick, enjoyable read (dated, naturally) that will forever be close to my heart from my many summers in Northern Michigan. Fans of Nancy Drew mysteries will enjoy this.

Taffy Saunders finds mystery and adventure on beautiful Mackinac Island, where her mother has unexpectedly inherited a hotel. A stipulation in the will states that Mrs. Saunders must manage the hotel successfully for a summer in order to gain title to it.

Taffy and her mother arrive at Sunset House to find the little hotel enveloped in an atmosphere of mystery and antagonism. Celeste, the exotic and superstitious French-Indian cook, has gone on strike and the housekeeper and her daughter seem strange and unfriendly. But it is not until mysterious happenings scare the guests into leaving that Taffy realizes someone wants her mother to fail. Who? Why? These are the questions she tries to answer.

Eerie gulls, a locked room, a Chinese gong ringing mysteriously in the night, and the initials J. B. are only a few of the clues that lead Taffy through thrilling and baffling episodes to an unexpected solution.

Taffy's breath-taking adventures are surrounded by the fascinating color of historic Mackinac Island. Miss Whitney has captured the vacation atmosphere of the island, yet its battle days seem to return as Taffy and her friend David Marsh search for a missing key among the guns of the old fort.