Meg Duncan

The Meg Duncan books are a series of six juvenile mystery books originally published by Western Publishing between 1967 and 1972, and reprinted in 1978.

The heroine is a girl of unspecified age named Margaret Ashley Duncan, who solves mysteries with the help of her best friend, Kerry Carmody. Four of the books are set near Meg's home town of Hidden Springs, Virginia. Two books take place when Meg and Kerry travel with Meg's Uncle Hal.

The Meg Duncan books were written by Holly Beth Walker, a pseudonym, and were illustrated by Cliff Schule. The books were first printed under two of Western Publishing's hardback imprint formats; they were later reprinted as paperbacks.

Characters

Margaret Ashley Duncan is Meg to most people, though her Uncle Hall calls her Maggie-me-love. Her age is never given, but she is described as a girl, and not an adolescent. She has brown eyes and long dark brown hair worn in braids, but wishes she had short hair.^[1] Meg lives in the country, near the Virginia village of Hidden Springs. She practices ballet ^[2] and Uncle Hal is teaching her to paint.^[3]

Meg's mother is dead, and she has no siblings. Her Siamese cat, Thunder, partially makes up for not having a larger family.^[2]

Mr. Duncan is Meg's father. He has an important government job in Washington DC and is often away from home.^[4] He calls home regularly, and he and Meg have a loving relationship.

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are an older couple who live with the Duncans.^[1] Mrs. Wilson is the housekeeper ^[2] and Mr. Wilson does the yard work and odd jobs.^[4]

Harold Ashley is Meg's Uncle Hal, her late mother's handsome younger brother.^[3] Uncle Hal works at a small museum in Washington DC. He drives an antique Duesenberg roadster, and flies his own plane.^[4] He has an apartment in Washington DC and a cabin in Maine.^[5]

Kerry Carmody is Meg's best friend and a close neighbor. Kerry lives on a farm with her parents, five brothers and one sister, and has a pony named Chappie. She has short blond hair and blue eyes. The Carmody children call their parents Ma'am and Sir.^[2]

Constable Hosey is the Hidden Springs law officer. He is constantly on duty, and will arrive quickly if called in the middle of the night.^[3]

Authors known and unknown

The first book, Meg and the Disappearing Diamonds, was written by Gladys Baker Bond, a prolific author of at least thirty-five books, most published by Western Publishing. Many of her Whitman books were Authorized Editions based on popular television series.^[6] Mrs. Baker wrote seven books under the pseudonym of Jo Mendel. She wrote three Trixie Belden books under the pseudonym of Kathryn Kenny. A 1981 volume of Contemporary Authors ^[7] lists only one Meg book among Gladys Baker Bond's writings. It is not known who wrote the other five books.

Several minor discrepancies hint that the final five books were written by at least two different authors.

In The Disappearing Diamonds, written by Mrs. Bond, Kerry has red-blond hair. In four of the volumes she has blond hair, but in The Ghost of Hidden Springs Kerry's red-blond hair returns.

In The Mystery of the Black-Magic Cave, Hidden Springs is a small city instead of a village, and Meg is said to have olive tinted skin. The Treasure Nobody Saw is the only book where Constable Hosey is sometimes called Mr. Hosey. The Ghost of Hidden Springs is the only book where the Carmody children call their paternal parent Father, and not Sir.

These discrepancies may have been made by one author not keeping detailed notes, but it is probable multiple authors, with different slants on details, wrote books two through six.

Book formats

The Meg books were originally published from 1967 to 1972 under two of Western Publishing's hardback imprints.

A Whitman Mystery Meg books have illustrated board covers and no dust jacket. The volumes measure 7 3/4 x 5 inches, with an average length of 138 pages. Illustrations are by Cliff Schule, and in one color. The spine-numbered A Whitman Mystery books are in this order:

1. Meg and the Disappearing Diamonds (1967)
2. Meg and the Secret of the Witch's Stairway (1967)
3. Meg and the Mystery of the Black-Magic Cave (1971)
4. Meg and the Ghost of the Hidden Springs (1970)
5. Meg and the Treasure Nobody Saw (1970)
6. Meg and the Mystery in Williamsburg (1972)

A Whitman Tween Age Book Meg books have illustrated board covers and no dust jacket. The volumes measure 8 3/8 x 5 1/2 inches, with an average length of 156 pages. There is more space between lines of print. Illustrations by Cliff Schule have more shading and detail; some are a two-page spread in full color. These Tween Age Books are not numbered.

Western Publishing reprinted the series as paperbacks in 1978. The paperbacks went through enough editions for the price printed on the cover to go from 95¢ to $1.25.

Golden Press Meg paperbacks measure 7 3/8 x 4 7/8 inches, with an average length of 138 pages. The covers have a yellow background with new cover illustrations by Olindo Giacomini. Cliff Schule's illustrations are still used through the book. The illustrations are in one color, and are the line drawings used in A Whitman Mystery books. The spine and front cover-numbered Golden Press books are in this order:

1. Meg and the Disappearing Diamonds (1967, 1978)
2. Meg and the Secret of the Witch's Stairway (1967, 1978)
3. Meg and the Treasure Nobody Saw (1970, 1978)
4. Meg and the Ghost of the Hidden Springs (1970, 1978)
5. Meg and the Mystery of the Black-Magic Cave (1971, 1978)
6. Meg and the Mystery in Williamsburg (1972, 1978)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Meg and the Treasure Nobody Saw, 1970
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Meg and the Disappearing Diamonds, 1967
3. ^ ^{a b c} Meg and the Secret of the Witch's Stairway, 1967
4. ^ ^{a b c} Meg and the Mystery in Williamsburg, 1972
5. ^ Meg and the Mystery of the Black-Magic Cave, 1971
6. ^ Whitman Juvenile Books Reference & Value Guide, David and Virginia Brown, Collector Books, 1997
7. ^ Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Volume 2, Gale Research Company, 1981

External links

• Information on known author, Gladys Baker Bond