Connie Carl at Rainbow Ranch - a Goldsmith Book for Boys and Girls

In my recent binge-reading of Mildred Wirt (Benson) books, I very nearly forgot about that one-off book she published in 1939.  Up to this time, Wirt had had quite the prolific career in writing children's series book - the four Penny Nichols books for Goldsmith (the last one published the same year as this book); two Doris Force mysteries; eight Ruth Fielding stories; ten Kay Tracey mysteries (two of which were published this same year); four Dana Girls books (one being published in 1939); thirteen Nancy Drew mystery stories (with one published the same year as this); three Honey Bunch stories (one published this same year); four Dot and Dash stories (one published in 1939); the three Madge Sterling mysteries; four stand-alone mysteries published under her own name; seven books in the "Mildred A. Wirt Mystery Stories" series (two published the same year as this book); the four Ruth Darrow Flying Stories; the four Trailer Stories for Girls books; and the first two Penny Parker books (published in this same year).  That is a total of 82 books written and published between 1927 and 1939, not including this book!  Wirt was DEFINITELY a busy author!

Now, I've heard a lot of things about Connie Carl at Rainbow Ranch.  There are stories circulating that this book was intended to be the fifth Penny Nichols book (even published by the same publisher and coming out the same year as the fourth and final Penny Nichols book).  Even though the same pseudonym, Joan Clark, is used for both books, I find this hard to believe, as the characterization is completely different - Penny Nichols and Connie Carl are two completely different characters, both in personality and style.  Additionally, the history of the characters are polar opposites - Penny Nichols' father is an investigator and city boy, while Connie Carl's father is a rancher and country boy.  So, I am not given to believe this book was intended as a fifth Penny Nichols book.  I've also heard, however, that there was a second Connie Carl book written, but the publisher rejected it, so Benson simply revised it and turned it into a Penny Parker book (Behind the Green Door, which came out only a year later).  This rumor sees only slightly more plausible, considering the timing; but, even then, Benson would have needed to do extensive re-writes to change the characterization and backgrounds from Connie to Penny.  Nevertheless, as a stand-alone story, the book definitely holds its own.

Connie Carl at Rainbow Ranch, while not having a very "mystery-oriented" title, is chock full of mystery. It opens with young Connie returning to Red Gulch, New Mexico after graduating from a "stylish Eastern finishing school" (p. 12).  Interestingly, she is said to be only sixteen, and was returning "to the prairie land she loved, to make her home one more at the place of her birth, Rainbow Ranch" (p. 12).  The only reason she left Rainbow Ranch was because when her father died, he willed Rainbow Ranch to his only child on the stipulation that she "attend school in the East" (p. 14).  She's looking forward to taking over management of the Ranch, but she begins to have concerns when everyone she comes in contact with in Red Gulch warns her to expect a lot of changes, including the fact that most of the ranchers and other hands have left or been discharged.  Forest Blakeman is still in charge of running the Ranch, having done so since Connie left for school, but Lefty Forbes is the only ranch hand left!  And it seems the Ranch is in dire financial straits - Blakeman has even had to forego any salary for months in order to keep the Ranch going.  Connie is shocked to discover that the bank is getting ready to foreclose on a mortgage against the property if the Note is not paid on the due date, which is only some days away!

Wirt's mystery is not necessarily a new one - someone is looking to profit by forcing Connie to sell the Ranch at a ridiculously low price before the mortgage is foreclosed - but the New Mexico setting on a dude ranch definitely makes it interesting.  Connie is forced to participate in a rodeo competition in order to win money to pay off the Note and Mortgage, but she is robbed by a bandit wearing a blue handkerchief over his face (which handkerchief plays a very important clue later in the story) on her way back to the Ranch with the money.  She takes some of her guests on a round-up to bring all of her cattle together for the purpose of selling them, but their lives are put in danger when someone starts firing a gun, causing the cattle to stampede!  When Connie takes some of her guests to see an old collection of homes built into the side of a mountain on the property, their horses are untied and disappear, leaving them to walk miles back to the Ranch.  And someone is purposefully encouraging people to leave the Ranch and stay at a competing Ranch, taking much needed income away from Connie!  Connie can't even depend on her former friend, Enid, for help, as it seems she and her father are also working against her!  So, it's up to Connie and her new Ranch hand, Jim Barrows, to figure out the mystery before Connie loses her Ranch to the bank.

As usual, Wirt makes good use of storms to generate danger and excitement in the story, as well as the cattle stampede, the gun-toting bandit, the cliff-side dwellings (and the unexpected fall of one of Connie's guests from that cliff-side!), and the daring rescue of a young toddler from in front of the path of onrushing horses!  It's a truly good tale with a number of red herrings that Wirt uses wisely to mislead her reader (and Connie!).  The ending is one that literally wraps everything nice and neat and finds Connie riding back to her Ranch for whatever the future holds for her.

Something I must make mention of, and I have indicated this same thing in other blog postings about books published by Goldsmith - Chapter One begins on page 11; however, there are only three pages (six, counting front and back) before that first page of Chapter One, so I am at a loss to determine how Goldsmith is determining that the first chapter begins on page 11 instead of page 7.  There are four pages unaccounted for - even if you count the actual cover to the book (front and back), that would still only start the first chapter on page 9, not page 11.  So, are there pages missing?  Was a frontis piece originally intended for the book, but later scrapped and the page count numbering not changed?  I've seen no evidence this book was originally published by a different publisher with a frontis piece and perhaps another title page that would account for the four missing pages.  And since this seems to occur in all of the Goldsmith books I have seen, I suppose it's a mystery that will remain unsolved for now...

 

RATING:  9 bands, playing slightly off key, out of 10 for providing young adults with another great amateur sleuth, even if this was her only mystery to solve!