"I can hardly wait to see what Pat is like," Trixie said.

"He's so attached to his horses, he probably looks like one - buck teeth, bulging brown eyes, and one lock of hair hanging down over his forehead."

Minutes later, the girls heard the sound of heavy boots on the porch.  The door opened and Regan stepped inside, followed by Bill Murrow, who guided his guest down the hall to show him where to wash up.  The last person inside was a tall, slender teenager, too muscular to be called thin.  He had high cheekbones and a long, straight nose.  He did, indeed, have large brown eyes and a lock of brown hair that strayed across his forehead, but the effect was far from horselike.

"Pat, this is Trixie Belden," Mrs. Murrow said.

"Hello," Trixie said.

Pat's answer was just a nod.

"And this is Matt Wheeler's daughter, Honey," Mrs. Murrow concluded.

Honey stepped forward and held out her hand.  Pat stared at her, but no immediate attempt to take her hand.  After an awkward pause, Honey dropped her hand - just as Pat offered his.  Realizing he was too late, Pat dropped his - just as Honey raised hers.  Honey shrugged helplessly and giggled.  Pat turned and and headed down the hall to the bathroom.

Trixie turned to Honey and discovered that her usually poised friend was blushing!  The incident was pushed aside, however, as Mrs. Murrow assigned everyone to a place at the table and began serving heaping platters of food.

None of the young people talked much during dinner.  They didn't have to, since Regan and the Murrows kept up a running discussion of horses - their selection, breeding, training, and showing.  Trixie listened to the conversation, but she also kept an eye on Honey and Pat.  Her friend was pretending to listen intently, but Trixie saw her sneaking frequent looks at the Murrows' son.  Pat seemed to concentrate only on his plate.

The Mystery of the Galloping Ghost (p. 18-21)

Title :
Trixie Belden and the Mystery of the Galloping Ghost

Author :
Kathryn Kenny
The ghost writer of this book is believed to be Laura French

First Published :
1986

Chapter Titles :
1.  The Twilight Rider
2.  An Explanation - and a Confrontation
3.  Discovery at Dusk
4.  A Trail Ride
5.  The Legend Is Recounted
6.  Mysterious Happenings
7.  The Deal Is Off!
8.  A Piece of Glass
9.  Wilhelmina Investigates
10. A Frantic Search
11. Confession - and Denial
12. Caught!
13. A Lifeline
14. Was It - or Wasn't It?

Setting :
Maple Lake, Minnesota

Synopsis :
Trixie, Honey and Regan travel to Minnesota to visit a family who train horses in the hope of learning some techniques to adopt with their horses.  The legend and a sighting of a galloping ghost has Trixie on the trail of a mystery and she is joined by a ghost hunter, while Honey is distracted by the handsome young horse trainer, Pat Murrow.  The Murrow's farm is threatened by a local developer who takes matters into his own hands when they won't sell.  Their prize stallion disappears and the search is on to find the horse and solve the mystery of the galloping ghost. 

Characters : 
Trixie Belden
Honey Wheeler - Trixie's best friend
Regan - the Wheeler's groom
Bill Murrow - horse breeder and trainer
Charlene Murrow - his wife
Pat Murrow - his son and also a horse trainer
Gus - hired hand
Jon Burke - real estate developer
Wilhelmina James - Senior associate with the Institute of Phenonemonolgical Research
Courtney Dahl - sales person at Burke Landing

Villains :
Jon Burke was desperate to buy the Murrow's land and stole their prize horse in a last attempt to make them sell.

Points of Interest:
Honey and Trixie are the only Bob-Whites to appear in this book.  Jim, Brian and Mart were at home working around Crabapple Farm as they would be working as camp counselors later that summer (p. 14).  Di and Dan had other summer plans that aren't mentioned (p. 15).

Apparently, Miss Trask had been hired as a full time manager of Manor House (p. 14) - no mention of her ever being Honey's governess.

Weird Honey continues to get weirder as she falls for the Murrow's son, Pat and their are some classic passages in this book:

"You seem to have found plenty of excitement already," Trixie retorted.

"I-I don't know what you mean," Honey said, carefully avoiding Trixie's gaze.

"Sure you do," Trixie told her.

Honey let her feelings burst forward with a sigh.  "Oh, Trixie, don't you think Pat Murrow is just about the cutest boy you've ever seen?"

"No, I don't," Trixie said.  "That's probably just as well, since you obviously do think so."

"What?" Honey sounded shocked.  "You don't think he's cute?  Those beautiful eyes, those sensitive hands..."

"I didn't say he isn't cute," Trixie corrected her.  "He's just not the cutest boy I've ever seen.  I hadn't noticed his hands, though," she added with a smile.  "I'll have to take a closer look."

"Don't you dare!" Honey said, grinning back at Trixie.  Sharing her feelings seemed to have restored her emotional balance.   (p. 34)

He gave Honey a big smile that showed even, white teeth and made a dimple appear in his right cheek.

Oh, no, Trixie thought.  That did it.  She'll have stars in her eyes and her feet in the clouds for the rest of the trip.  (p. 65)

Honey had a past history for liking and trusting someone that Trixie doesn't, who always turns out to be the villain.  Therefore, this passage is surprising:

"All right, all right," Trixie replied.  "I won't make any trouble."  As long as Honey likes Pat Murrow so much, I'll try to like him, too, she told herself (p. 59).

However, on this occasion, Pat doesn't turn out to be a villain and Trixie's opinion of Pat changes.