About the author
Michael Murray wrote the five book Timber Trails series. It features different characters from a stable near Chicago, run by a Col Dweyer. More about them than that I cannot tell you; I haven’t been able to dig out any information about the author. Two of the stories are about Dave Talbot, and each book has a badge on the front declaring which character it’s about, which suggest that more were planned. Why mention the characters if readers weren’t going to be able to go for their favourites? However, five titles is all I can find.
Finding the books
Easy to find. Not published in the UK.
Links and sources
Terri Wear: Horse Stories: An Annotated Bibliography
Thank you to Lisa Catz for summaries and photographs.
Series
Timber Trail Riders
Long Trail North
The Texas Tenderfoot
The Luck of Black Diamond
The Mystery of the Hollywood Horse
The Mysterious Dud
Bibliography (horse books only)
Long Trail North
Whitman Publishing Company, 1963, 280 pp, illus Robert Meyers and Olinda Giacomini.
This book centres on Mike Casey and his horse, Buck, who have gone to Wyoming to take part in a cattle drive.
The Texas Tenderfoot
Whitman Publishing Company, 1963, illus Robert Meyers and Arnie Kohn
Dave spends a year at the Timber Trail Farm. It’s not easy for him; he has to make many
adjustments, but he does learn to ride, and to help another member of the riding club, who’s very shy.
The Luck of Black Diamond
Whitman Publishing Company, 1963, 282 pp, illus Olinda Giacomini and Arnie Kohn
Sunny is spending her summer in Colorado, and she gets lucky when her uncle offers to hire her a horse, Black Diamond.
The Mystery of the Hollywood Horse
Whitman Publishing Company, 1964, illus Jim Tadych
Peggy goes to visit her aunt, who lives in California. She’s found someone who will look after her mare for her at Timber Trail while she’s away, and she gets a job while she’s away at a ranch which trains movie horses, including the famous Cinder.
The Mysterious Dude
Whitman Publishing Company, 1964, illus Wilbuer A Howe
Dave Talbot helps his friend to run the family’s Green Desert Dude Ranch. They have
a problem guest: Karen. Karen knows everything, winds everyone up, and rides very, very badly.