Ann Sheldon

Linda Craig and the Palomino Mystery

Doubleday, New York, 1962
Reprinted Wanderer Books, 1981
Armada, London, pb, 1982, illus St Ward

Linda Craig and the Clue on the Desert Trail

Doubleday, New York, 1962

Reprinted Wanderer Books, l1981
Armada, London, pb, 1982, Illus St Ward

Linda Craig and the Secret of Rancho Del Sol

Doubleday 1963

Linda Craig and the Mystery of Horseshoe Canyon

Doubleday 1963

What a can of worms I opened up when I decided to add the Linda Craig series to the website. The series was produced in three bursts, and as the latest series completely superceded the second, there are two Linda Craig # 1 etc and no, they are not the same book. The reading orders, as far as I have been able to work them out, are below.

All books do though feature Linda Craig and her palomino filly, Chica. Linda and her brother Bob are orphans, who come to live on the Rancho Del Sol with her grandparents. Each book is a mystery story with a Western riding background. In the first series, Linda and Bob are 16 and 18, but in the third series years are ruthlessly chopped away from them and they are around the age of 10 (and Chica is renamed as Amber). Maybe this change in the characters’ ages reflected what Scholastic felt was the age of the pony book market.

Ann Sheldon is a composite - she does not exist. She is a creation of Stratemeyer Syndicates, responsible for the Nancy Drew series and numerous other well known and long running American series, ghost-written by a variety of authors. The only author I have been able to identify with any certainty is Alison Hart (Alice Leonhardt) who wrote five of the third series of books.

The author(s) of of the first two series remain a mystery. The first books, produced in the 1960s, had six titles. These six were reprinted by Simon and Schuster between 1982 and 1984, and five new stories were then added to the series. These eleven stories (I’m not sure about Scorpio, which I can’t find referred to in the British Library, or on any booksearch site) were published in the UK by Armada in paperback, and as compilations by Diamond. That was the last the UK saw of the series: in 1988 Simon and Schuster published twelve new titles which only appear to have been published in the US. This last twelve behaved as if the previous books did not exist: they started numbering again from 1.

Scorpio is very hard to find indeed. The hardbacks are not impossible, but more expensive than the freely available and generally very cheap paperbacks.

Sources:

Series Books article on Linda Craig

Alice Leonhardt

A review of some of the books

Many thanks to Susan Bourgeau and Hannah Fleetwood for all their help with pictures and information.

Linda Craig and the Secret of Rancho Del Sol

Doubleday, New York, 1963
Reprinted Wanderer Books, 1981
Armada, London, pb, 1982

Linda Craig and the Mystery of Horseshoe Canyon

Doubleday, New York, 1963
Reprinted Wanderer Books, 1981
Armada, London, pb, 1982

Linda Craig and the Mystery in Mexico

Doubleday, New York, 1964

Reprinted Wanderer Books, 1981
Armada, London, pb, 1983

Linda Craig and the Ghost Town Treasure

Doubleday, New York, 1964

Reprinted Simon & Schuster, 1982

Armada, London, pb, 1983

Simon & Schuster 1980ss/1990s Linda Craig series

1. Golden Secret

2. A Star for Linda

3. The Silver Stallion

4. The Crystal Trail

5. The Glimmering Ghost

6. The Ride to Gold Canyon

7. A Horse for Jackie

8. A Star in the Saddle

9. The Riding Club

10. Anything for Kelly

11. Everybody’s Favourite

12. Kathy in Charge

Armada series (UK) numbering

1 Palomino Mystery (probably)

2 Clue on the Desert Trail

3 Secret of Rancho del Sol (probably)

4 Horseshoe Canyon

5 Mystery in Mexico

6 Ghost Town Treasure (probably)

7 The Haunted Valley

8 Secret of the Old Sleigh

9 Emperor’s Pony

10 Phantom of Dark Oaks (probably)

11 Search for Scorpio (probably)

Linda Craig titles written by Alison Leonhardt (Alison Hart)

Kathy in Charge
The Riding Club
A Horse for Jackie
The Glimmering Ghost
The Silver Stallion

The second collection of stories:

The Haunted Valley
Wanderer Books, 1982
Armada, London, pb, 1983

Secret of the Old Sleigh
Wanderer Books, 1983, pb
Armada, London, pb, 1983

The Emperor’s Pony
Wanderer Books, 1983
Armada, London, pb, 1984

Phantom of Dark Oaks
Wanderer Books, 1984
Armada, London, pb, 1984, illus St Ward

Search for Scorpio
Wanderer Books, 1984
possibly printed by Armada in 1984 - no record exists if so

The Third Collection of Stories

Golden Secret
Pocketbooks, NY, 1988

A Star for Linda
Pocketbooks, NY, 1988

Linda Craig and the Secret of Rancho Del Sol

Doubleday 1963

The Silver Stallion (AL)
Pocketbooks, NY, 1988

The Crystal Trail
Pocketbooks, NY, 1988

The Glimmering Ghost (AL)
Pocketbooks, NY, 1989

Linda Craig and the Secret of Rancho Del Sol

Doubleday 1963

The Ride to Gold Canyon
Pocketbooks, NY, 1989

A Horse for Jackie (AL)
Pocketbooks, NY, 1989