The mystery at the shuttered hotel
By: by Christine Noble Govan and Emmy West. Illustrated by Frederick T. Chapman.
Contributors: West, Emily Govan, joint author.
Publisher: Sterling Pub. Co.
Published: 1956
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 188
Description: From "Goodreads" Description: A tense winter evening in a shut down summer resort hotel is spent by Ted and Mickey, Bitsy, Buzz and Jimmy. Out in the wagon to collect Christmas trees, the children are delayed getting home when their horse's ankle is sprained. But going to the hotel to see what they can find there brings further complications: prowlers are sighted and the caretaker is discovered unconscious. Narrow escapes, attempts to signal for help and to prevent the robbers' getaway follow before state troopers and anxious parents help complete their capture. From "Elise" @ Goodreads: This book was published in 1956, and is part of a series about 5 children who solve mysteries. It’s set on Lookout Mountain at the Lookout Mountain Hotel which is now Carter Hall at Covenant College. I spent some of the best years of my life living in that dorm and it was so so fun to read a fictional mystery set in the building. The characters rode horse and buggy to the hotel, and it is set at Christmas. Perfect!

“She pictured the huge building, made of native stone and perched on the highest point of the mountain. There was a grand view of hundreds of miles on all sides, and nothing to break the winter wind, no matter from which direction it blew.”

“At this time of year, the wind howled over the mountains and around the wide stone verandahs of the hotel's four stories.”

“At last they stood on the wide, windswept plateau and stared up at the empty building. It looked lonely and even more cerie than they had imagined. Hundreds of shuttered windows stared out over the valley. The doors were closed and the porches, usually filled with people in brightly painted chairs, were deserted.
The wind sobbed as it tore around the corners of the great porches. And as the children drove across the grounds and to the north end of the building, a gust of dead leaves blew ahead of them, around the corner, and down to the terraces above the huge, empty swimming pool. They walked over to the edge of the first terrace and simply stared. As far as they could see, the mountains folded in one behind another, misty blue, silent and mysterious. On one or two of them a thin rim of snow lay like a foamy sea. For a few minutes they were silent — awed by the grandeur of the scene.”