I am trying to find the title and author of a book I read when I was
about 10. It was probably written in the 50's or 60's. I have no idea
what it was called but the plot is well ingrained in my memory:

Two children (boy and girl) move to the suburbs because their mother
had twins and the father works in the Navy. The children meet two
other children (boy and girl) who live with their great aunt or
grandmother in an old house surrounded by trees. The children become
friends and love to spend time in the old house. When the old lady was
a girl, her family had a monkey who liked to hide things, he once hid
some jewels and nobody ever foud them. The old lady is going to lose
the house to the bank because its too expensive to maintain, so the
children begin searching for the jewels but they can't find them.
Finally the old lady decides to give up and sell the house to the
bank, and she lets each child pick something to keep from the house.
One of the boys likes ships so he picks an old ship model that was a
replica of the old lady's father's ship. When the boy goes home, he
cleans the ship and inside he finds the jewels and the old lady is
able to save the house.

I think the book was called The Mystery of... and it was the name of
the old house...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Your book is "Sea View Secret," by Elizabeth Kinsey (a pseudonym of
Eleanor Lowenton Clymer). It was originally published in 1952. It is
currently out of print, but used copies are available.

"Seaview Secret 
The book I'm looking for was probably published in the 1950s or early
1960s.  Title and author are unknown.  Plot: A brother and sister (I
think) visit their grandparents' old house and see a family portrait
from the 1890s or early 1900s when the grandparents were young.  The
family's pet monkey was sitting on the shoulder of one.  There was
also a family story about some very valuable jewels being lost that
were never recovered.  The modern brother and sister think it would be
wonderful to find the jewels and they do by piecing together old
stories, photographs, and diary clues.  It turns out the pet monkey
had taken the jewels that were in a soft leather pouch and hidden them
in the body of a ship's model.  The model had been sitting in plain
sight under the portrait for 50 or 60 years but no one had thought to
look inside. ...

Seaview Secret, 1962.  Kids went to live in a new subdivision near the
water. Their dad was at sea most of the time. The old house around
which the subdivision had been built had a cupola where you could
watch ships returning from voyages. Either the subdivision or the old
house was called Sea View. And, yes, the monkey done it. The kids
found the jewels."

Loganberry Books
http://loganberrybooks.com/solved-s.html 

"What is the secret of the strange old house? There is stands, smack
in the middle of all the new little homoes in Sea View Gardens. Ten
year old Jane and her older brother have just moved to Sea View from
the city. All at once the big old house becomes for them a House of
Surprises. Because of the house they meet Kate and Stephen Jessup,
too. The four friends set out together to solve the mystery. Where is
the lost treasure? And can they find it before it is too late?"

AddAll Rare, Used, and Out of Print Book Search: Sea View Secret
http://used.addall.com/SuperRare/RefineRare.fcgi?id=060911125439296782 

My Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: "sea view secret" OR "seaview secret"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22sea+view+secret%22+OR+%22seaview+secret%22

I hope this is the right book! If it is not, please request
clarification; I'll be glad to offer further assistance before you
rate my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 11 Sep 2006 13:07 PDT

I just noticed that one of the quotes that I posted has a rather
bizarre typo in it: "in the middle of all the new little homoes." This
should have been "homes." The error was not mine, but that of the
quoted source. Hope no one is offended by this.

~pinkfreud

You owe me a new keyboard !

frde,

We cannot accept liability for keyboard damage resulting from the
explosive emission of liquids by surprised readers of typos in source
material. You may want to consult your household insurance policy to
see whether this might be covered under "natural disasters."

I checked my policy
- it explicitly excludes damages resulting from a Freudian slurp

Ah, yes, I suppose a Freudian slurp would fall into the category of
milkalicious mischief.

Who said anything about milk in my keyboard ?

I'm just whining about the damage :-}

>> I'm just whining about the damage :-}

Ah, so this alleged damage is related to wining about? Tsk, tsk.
Keyboarding and the ol' vino don't mix well, frde. There's nothing
like a slowly-drying puddle of Chianti to gum up the works. Eventually
some of your keys don't work right, and you end up typxng lxke thxs.