The Secret of Rancho del Sol

Linda Craig #3

by Ann Sheldon

The summer she is invited to join the Trail Blazers Club with her prized golden palomino filly, 16-year-old Linda searches for her family's jewels, hidden by an ancestor in 1846.

Genres: Mystery, Horses, Childrens

191 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Pseudonym of Sharon Wagner.

Reviews

[Christian West]

Unlucky horsewoman Linda Craig and her palomino Chico d'Oro are back for some more mishaps, mostly centred around some villains trying to get their hands on lost family jewels, and Linda and friends joining an exclusive horse club.

This book is marginally better than book two, so at least they're getting better. Not enough to get 3 stars though.

As this is potentially the last Linda Craig book I'll read, I feel I should give it a big review, but even though I finished the book only 20 minutes ago, the biggest thing that stands out to me is that there was a bear in it. I think that's only because there's a picture of the bear on the front cover though. In general this book was highly forgettable. The chapters follow the same premise - something that went wrong in the previous chapter is fixed in 2-3 paragraphs, paltry plot that doesn't really fit in with the chapter before, then something bad happens to either Linda or her horse. Although I don't recall disliking the book, the fact that I cannot remember anything that happened at all really tells me how I feel about the book.

Something to note, I finally looked up what a palomino was. It's just the colour of the horse. I cannot believe Linda spent the entire first book rejecting horses because they didn't fit her ideal 'look' and then hounding a poor native American man until he gave up the horse that fit her mental picture of the perfect horse. The end of the book does have her competing in a horse riding competition where she gets marked down for wearing jeans, and where a beauty and interview portion exists, so maybe horsey colour is very important for such people. I guess I'll never be a horsewoman with my attitude.

[Rena Sherwood]

Really should be re-titled Linda Craig and the World's Dumbest Villains since the bad guys have the IQ of lawn furniture. However, that's all part of the fun. This was written in the early 1960s when books (and television) was meant to relax you. In order to do that, it had to be unrealistic. (Think -- Mr. Ed.)

Now I like this book partially because of how it makes me laugh and that I enjoyed the book when I was a kid. If you want your books to be scrupulously realistic, then skip this. I have no idea what California was like in 1960 but I have a sneaking suspicion that it was nothing like this.

There is a certain sweetness and seriousness about the original Linda Craig series that makes me forgive the silliness that I cannot abide with more modern-day series like Phantom Stallion. Perhaps that makes me a hypocrite that I give the Linda Craig books better reviews than for Phantom Stallion or Thoroughbred but after I read this book I felt better about life while after reading the others I felt pretty depressed. I can't explain.

[Chris Meads]

Another good mystery about Linda Craig, Chica D'Oro and her friends.

This one is a double mystery--Chica D'Oro gets injured by vandals and the ranch where Linda lives is ransacked. As Linda prepares for a horse show where competition is fierce, she and her friends wonder why things happen when a groom of one of the local competitive girls, keeps showing up,

Why was the ranch turned topsy-turvy? There is a legend that there are jewels hidden there and someone is out to get them, no matter what. Will Linda learn the answers to everything?

[Erica Leigh]

One of my favorite series as a child - I even had my very own golden palomino!

[Erin]

I read this book so many times as a child. It's a really good story that would be good for any age.