Posted as a starting point for anyone interested. Cross posted from my blog.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/books/09whitney.html?mcubz=3

Her first book was published in 1941, her last in 1997. She wrote juvenile/young adult fiction as well as adult.


I'll try to update this throughout the next few days as to what's J/YA and also as to ebook availability and prices (US) as I can find them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_A._Whitney

A Place for Ann (1941)
A Star for Ginny (1942)
A Window for Julie (1943)
Red is for Murder (1943), Reissued as The Red Carnelian (1965)
The Silver Inkwell (1945)
Writing Juvenile Fiction (1947)
Willow Hill (1947)
Ever After (1948)
The Mystery of the Gulls (1949)
Linda's Homecoming (1950)
The Island of Dark Woods (1951), Reissued as Mystery of the Strange Traveler (1967)
Love Me, Love Me Not (1952)
Step to the Music (1953)
Mystery of the Black Diamonds (1954)
A Long Time Coming (1954)
Mystery on the Isle of Skye (1955)
The Quicksilver Pool (1955)
The Fire and the Gold (1956)
The Highest Dream (1956)
The Trembling Hills (1956)
Mystery of the Green Cat (1957)
Skye Cameron (1957)
Secret of the Samurai Sword (1958)
The Moonflower (1958)
Creole Holiday (1959)
Mystery of the Haunted Pool (1960)
Thunder Heights (1960)
Secret of the Tiger's Eye (1961)
Blue Fire (1961)
Mystery of the Golden Horn (1962)
Window on the Square (1962)
Mystery of the Hidden Hand (1963)
Seven Tears for Apollo (1963)
Secret of the Emerald Star (1964)
Black Amber (1964)
Mystery of the Angry Idol (1965)
Sea Jade (1965)
Columbella (1966)
Secret of the Spotted Shell (1967)
Silverhill (1967)
Hunter's Green (1968)
Secret of Goblin Glen (1969)
The Mystery of the Crimson Ghost (1969)
The Winter People (1969)
Secret of the Missing Footprint (1969)
Lost Island (1970)
The Vanishing Scarecrow (1971)
Nobody Likes Trina (1972)
Listen for the Whisperer (1972)
Mystery of the Scowling Boy (1973)
Snowfire (1973)
The Turquoise Mask (1974)
Secret of Haunted Mesa (1975)
Spindrift (1975)
The Golden Unicorn (1976)
Writing Juvenile Stories and Novels (1976)
Secret of the Stone Face (1977)
The Stone Bull (1977)
The Glass Flame (1978)
Domino (1979)
Poinciana (1980)
Vermilion (1981)
Guide to Fiction Writing (1982)
Emerald (1983)
Rainsong (1984)
Dream of Orchids (1985)
Flaming Tree (1986)
Silversword (1987)
Feather on the Moon (1988)
Rainbow in the Mist (1989)
The Singing Stones (1990)
Woman Without a Past (1991)
The Ebony Swan (1992)
Star Flight (1993)
Daughter of the Stars (1994)
Amethyst Dreams (1997)

So far I've read:

Hunter's Green
Black Amber
Blue Fire

Of them, I think that Black Amber is still my favorite. Blue Fire had a great setting - Cape Town, South Africa, and Whitney's obvious distaste for apartheid was interesting given the age of the book. Hunter's Green, actually, was my least favorite so far.

Whitney didn't receive a lot of critical love back in the day, and, unlike Mary Stewart, her books seem to be treated much more dismissively. Nonetheless, I find her writing to be very engaging and her command of her settings to be well-done. I am convinced over and over that the writing in older books was simply better than what we are publishing today. Even the schlocky older stuff is well-written.

So, that begs the question. Which one am I going to read next!

I was a bit -- okay, more than a bit -- disappointed to see the high prices on the Open Road reprints.

I have several of the books in paperback. According to my records -- which are not always 100% reliable! -- I have Rainsong, Silverhill, The Golden Unicorn, The Moonflower, Feather on the Moon, and Rainbow in the Mist. I used to have The Turquoise Mask, Black Amber, and a few others; they may be in "storage" and therefore not recorded.

Your assessment of the quality of the writing is spot on. I'm not sure what brought about the decline, though I have some theories. And it's not universal. I started reading a book last night, published 1999, in which the writing is every bit as good as the picky reader in me could want. (I had to sample this one, as it's a potential for Bingo, so I won't reveal the title!) But I've read others that are just horrible.

I don't think I read any Phyllis Whitney prior to my writing days; I read Shellabarger and Sabatini and Yerby. But I've read several of her books since then and I can't say I would have major complaints about plotting or writing competence. I'm sure I'll read at least one for Bingo, and we'll see how it stands up.

There are so many of these books lurking in the shadows! Whitney, Victoria Holt, Norah Lofts, Velda Johnston, Daoma Winston, just off the top of my head. I think we could spark a renaissance of the genre by pulling out what's so great about them, and help both readers and writers enjoy the best of the best, from then and from now.

Reply to post #4 (show post):
I agree with you about the Open Road prices, and I wish they were lower, although I routinely pay $9.99 through $14.99 for current best seller fiction (my parents read a lot of this!) so the $6.15 price tag doesn't feel wholly unreasonable to me. $3.99 would be a better price, IMO - I would've already bought them all at that price.

However, the Sourcebooks Georgette Heyers are mostly $9.99 and the Harper Collins Christie collection are mostly $9.99 (altho Whitney is admittedly neither Heyer nor Christie). So, they're better than that, at least! And, fingers crossed that they go on sale for $1.99 a pop or something!

The Moonflower has been reissued, and Rainsong is scheduled for release 8.29.

I've never heard of Velda Johnston or Daoma Winston, but looked them up on amazon & their books look interesting! There are some used copies available. I did buy a copy of Tregaron's Daughter by Madeleine Brent ages ago when we were talking about a buddy read of it & plan to get to it soon!

Dorothy Eden & Jennifer Wilde have also been reissued by Open Road, and their prices are more like $3.82 versus the $6.15 of the Whitney editions.

Oh, yes, I'd forgotten Dorothy Eden. I have a bunch of the Jennifer Wilde gothics, picked up as freebies along the way. There were also a bunch of Jennifer Blake Southern gothics issued as Kindle editions and I grabbed those when they were freebies. (I'm as poor as a gothic heroine, so I go for the cheap stuff!)

I've admittedly only read a few so far, but Window on the Square is my favorite - I've worn out the paperback over the years and had to upgrade to a hardcover. :D

Looking for something else in my hoard, er, collection, I stumbled upon the four older Whitneys I knew of -- Moonflower, Rainsong, Golden Unicorn, and Silverhill -- so they're close at hand for Bingo reads. I also found a copy of Madeleine Brent's Stormswift. ;-) (Did not, however, find what I was actually looking for.)

What did you think of Silverhill? It's going to be reissued on 11/29.

Reply to post #10 (show post):
I liked Silverhill. There were certain details I felt were not really pertinent -- the issue with the trees in particular -- but the rest of it was good. And the ending was a total surprise.