Phyllis Whitney Tiger's Eye and Golden Horn

In Secret of the Tiger's Eye, Benita Dustin stays with her aunt at her home in Cape Town, South Africa.  Joel Monroe, the son of Mr. Dustin's editor, is also staying with Benita's aunt.  Joel is very annoying, and Benita and Joel do not get along at all.  Benita notices some strange events that bother her, and Joel teases her relentlessly.

This book contains an excellent lesson about racism and about how one should try to understand others who are different, whether that difference is religion or simply a difference in personality.

The conflict with Joel is quite interesting and takes an unexpected turn partway through the story.

This is a really excellent book, and I found it quite satisfying.

In Mystery of the Golden Horn, Vicki Stewart's mother is ill, so she must stay with her father in Turkey.  Vicki does not want to live in Turkey, so she approaches everyone and everything with as much anger as possible.  Vicki becomes friendly with Adria, who is staying in the same house.  Adria is obsessed with a golden horn, which later goes missing.

The beginning of this book is interesting, but towards halfway through the book, it began to bore me.  Adria's distant and mysterious behavior wore on me.  I dislike it when the companion of the protagonist won't tell what is going on.

Vicki covers for Adria's behavior.  I don't have a problem with Vicki covering for Adria, except that Vicki has no idea what Adria is doing.  She has this conviction that Adria isn't crazy and blindly covers for her.  This blind faith is what bothers me.  We don't know what Adria is doing.  I don't like not knowing what is going on, so the book gradually bored and annoyed me more and more.

This book isn't a mystery.  It's a coming-of-age story.  It's one of those books that presents itself as a mystery, but there would be no mystery if the characters had communicated with each other.  That kind of story annoys me and is my least favorite book to read.  By the time I finished the book, which was only possible with a lot of skimming during the second half, I didn't like the book at all.