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? There are questions she must answer.
Author
Phyllis 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.
