Michael Murray

American author of children's books. I cannot find any information about him apart from the fact he wrote a fairly popular series of pony stories which focus on the exploits of the members of a riding club. The books seemed to have been aimed at both girls and boys, as the main characters are of both sexes. I don't know if he wrote any other books, pony or otherwise.

Timber Trail Riders Series:
Adventure/mystery series about Mike, Sunny, Dave, Peggy and the other members of a riding club called the Timber Trail Riders. Each story concentrates on one of the characters, except for Dave who is a main character in two of the books.

1) LONG TRAIL NORTH
(WHITMAN [USA] 1963)
ILLUSTRATED BY ROBERT MEYERS & OLINDO GIACOMINI
SUMMARY:  Two members of the Timber Trail Riders club, Mike and Danny, are invited to take part in an 800 mile cattle drive.

2) THE TEXAS TENDERFOOT
(WHITMAN [USA] 1963)
ILLUSTRATED BY ROBERT MEYERS & ARNIE KOHN
SUMMARY:  Newcomer Dave must learn to ride and help a shy member of the club.

3) THE LUCK OF BLACK DIAMOND
(WHITMAN [USA] 1963)
ILLUSTRATED BY ROBERT MEYERS & OLINDO GIACOMINI
SUMMARY:  Club member Sunny is delighted when her uncle offers to rent her the horse Black Diamond to ride over the summer.

4) THE MYSTERY OF THE HOLLYWOOD HORSE
(WHITMAN [USA] 1964)
ILLUSTRATED BY JIM TADYCH
SUMMARY:  When Peggy goes to visit her aunt in California she gets a job working with a famous movie horse called Cinder.

5) THE MYSTERIOUS DUDE
(WHITMAN [USA] 1964)
ILLUSTRATED BY WILBER A. HOWE
SUMMARY:  Dave helps his friend Ron run his parent's dude ranch whilst they are away, but one of the guests causes trouble.

Collector's Info:
All hardbacks with pictorial boards. All are easy to find in the USA and usually cheap. Fairly hard to find outside of America, though usually fairly cheap to buy from there even with shipping costs added.