SOLVED. Children's book - mystery set in the Wild West - read in the 1980s. [s]

[Tom]

Hi, folks -- Apologies if a thread exists for this book, but I didn't see one...

I read a children's book when I was a kid in the 1980s about a boy in the Old West who really wanted a saddle for his horse for a lot of things he wants to do (he said he "had a list a mile long"). One day, a pair of traveling charlatans come to town and convince the townsfolk that a ghost is on the loose. They put on this elaborate show on stage but then act like the show has gone wrong when the "ghost" interferes. However, their true goal is to rob the town (?) and make it look like the ghost did it.

The boy solves the mystery and exposes the charlatans. In the end, as a reward, the boy's parents (or the townspeople?) buy a saddle for the boy. On the last page, someone asks him what he's going to do now that he has the saddle, and the boy says, "I got a list a mile long."

...At least, that's how I remember it. Some of the details may be off.

Even though I read the book in the 1980s, it may have been published well before that, possibly in the 1950s or 1960s, during the height of the Western craze (although that's just a guess). It was published more than once, since I read it twice, and the second time I got it from the copy, I got a version that had very different illustrations than the first time.

I realize that it sounds very "Scooby-Doo"-like (unmasking a fake ghost) but I'm certain that the cast of characters was entirely original, and that it wasn't set in the then-present time but in the Old West.

A Google search has proved fruitless, and I've tried asking friends about this book, including really knowledgeable bookworms, but no one seems to remember it but me. Anyone else have any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

[Mai]

I found one that sounds just like your book! Searching children's book "a saddle" "ghost" "rob the town" this book review came up:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
"As Great Aunt Etta, Opie's guardian, has promised to buy him a horse with her 1877 bank-deposited penny as soon as he saves up enough for a saddle, Opie who can streak (his word) through town with his eyes closed goes into the fog business as a guide in order to earn the necessary $17.59. And earn it he does, though not as expected; he receives the saddle as a reward for catching a bank robber. For Opie, alerted when an itinerant, fraudulent ghost raiser pays him for an errand with Aunt Etta's rare penny -- guides the culprit, who asks on a foggy Saturday night to be steered out of town, straight into the arms of the sheriff. Another successful Fleischman concoction of flimflam and smart footwork."

The book is The Ghost on Saturday Night by Sid Fleischman. There are a few different covers but it was originally published in 1974.
I checked Google Books and there is no preview but you can search inside the book and there's the sentence you remember: "I already had a list a mile-and-a-half long".

[Tom]

Mai wrote: "I found one that sounds just like your book! Searching children's book "a saddle" "ghost" "rob the town" this book review came up:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re......"

Hello, Mai! Thank you SO MUCH! The description matches very well, and you found the right quote. I looked at the artwork for the 1974 edition, and it matches the book in my memory!

Sorry it took me so long to reply -- Goodreads notifications go to a rarely used inbox for me, so I didn't see the message until just now!

Thank you again. You're my hero for finding this! :) :) :)

[Kris]

Great! Glad you found your book, Tom. Thanks for the update.