The Mystery of the Galloping Ghost

## Plot

Trixie, Honey and Regan travel to Minnesota to visit a family who train horses in the hope of learning some techniques to adopt with their horses.  The legend and a sighting of a galloping ghost has Trixie on the trail of a mystery and she is joined by a ghost hunter, while Honey is distracted by the handsome young horse trainer, Pat Murrow.  The Murrow's farm is threatened by a local developer who takes matters into his own hands when they won't sell.  Their prize stallion disappears and the search is on to find the horse and solve the mystery of the galloping ghost.

## Characters

* Trixie Belden
* Honey Wheeler
* Regan
* Bill Murrow
* Charlene Murrow
* Pat Murrow
* Gus
* Jon Burke
* Wilhelmina James
* Courtney Dahl

## Chapter Titles

1. The Twilight Rider
2. An Explanation - and a Confrontation
3. Discovery at Dusk
4. A Trail Ride
5. The Legend Is Recounted
6. Mysterious Happenings
7. The Deal Is Off!
8. A Piece of Glass
9. Wilhelmina Investigates
10. A Frantic Search
11. Confession - and Denial
12. Caught!
13. A Lifeline
14. Was It - or Wasn't It?

## Trivia

* Honey and Trixie are the only Bob-Whites to appear in this book.  Jim, Brian and Mart were at home working around Crabapple Farm as they would be working as camp counselors later that summer (p. 14).  Di and Dan had other summer plans that aren't mentioned (p. 15).
* Apparently, Miss Trask had been hired as a full time manager of Manor House (p. 14) - no mention of her ever being Honey's governess.
* Weird Honey continues to get weirder as she falls for the Murrow's son, Pat and their are some classic passages in this book: "You seem to have found plenty of excitement already," Trixie retorted. "I-I don't know what you mean," Honey said, carefully avoiding Trixie's gaze. "Sure you do," Trixie told her. Honey let her feelings burst forward with a sigh.  "Oh, Trixie, don't you think Pat Murrow is just about the cutest boy you've ever seen?" "No, I don't," Trixie said.  "That's probably just as well, since you obviously do think so." "What?" Honey sounded shocked.  "You don't think he's cute?  Those beautiful eyes, those sensitive hands..." "I didn't say he isn't cute," Trixie corrected her.  "He's just not the cutest boy I've ever seen.  I hadn't noticed his hands, though," she added with a smile.  "I'll have to take a closer look." "Don't you dare!" Honey said, grinning back at Trixie.  Sharing her feelings seemed to have restored her emotional balance.   (p. 34) He gave Honey a big smile that showed even, white teeth and made a dimple appear in his right cheek. Oh, no, Trixie thought.  That did it.  She'll have stars in her eyes and her feet in the clouds for the rest of the trip.  (p. 65)
* Honey had a past history for liking and trusting someone that Trixie doesn't, who always turns out to be the villain.  Therefore, this passage is surprising: "All right, all right," Trixie replied.  "I won't make any trouble."  As long as Honey likes Pat Murrow so much, I'll try to like him, too, she told herself (p. 59). However, on this occasion, Pat doesn't turn out to be a villain and Trixie's opinion of Pat changes.

## References

1. ↑ "The Mystery of the Galloping Ghost." Trixie-belden.com. N.d. Retrieved September 5, 2021 from http://www.trixie-belden.com/books/series/book39.htm