About the author
Margaret Goff Clark was born on 7th March 1913 in Oklahoma City. She was educated at the State University College, Buffalo, New York, and after graduating, taught for six years. Having started writing when she was seven (at which age she wrote verse) she was a prolific producer of short stories, having written over 200 by the time Mystery Horse was published. Her other full length novels were mostly mysteries. She said: “ like to read suspense stories, so I guess it’s natural that I like to write them.” She is best known for her book Freedom Crossing, about the Underground Railroad which helped slaves from the Southern United States to escape to Canada.
She lived near the Tuscarora Indian Reservation, which features in her horse book Mystery Horse. After writing her first book The Mystery of Seneca Hill in 1961, she was “adopted” by the Senecas in July, 1962, when she was given the Indian name of Deh-yi-sto-esh, meaning She Who Writes and Publishes.
Finding the book
The book is easy to find, and generally not hideously expensive. It wasn’t published in the UK.
Links and sources
Dustjacket of Mystery Horse
Some of Margaret Goff Clark’s papers are in the De Grummond Collection
Freedom Crossing, on Historic Lewiston, New York
Many thanks to Susan Bourgeau for her help with this section.
Bibliography (horse books only)
Mystery Horse
Dodd, Mead, New York, 1972, 153 pp, cover Ted Lewin
Scholastic, pb
15-year-old Jennie Longboat is searching for her new friend, Miranda, who has not been seen since dinner time. Then Jennie hears the whinny of a frightened horse, and from then on she is in the centre of a mystery which will threaten the peace of the Tuscarora reservation on which she lives.
