Connie Blair's Colorful Clues Part II

I almost hate to admit it, but I find that I like The Mystery of the Ruby Queens the best of all of the books in the series. This distresses me a bit because it is the only Connie Blair book that Cavanna did not write. This book is set in an old house, and Connie must try to find the missing Ruby Queens, which are six priceless figurines. I always love mysteries that are set in old houses and that require the sleuth to search for something. The book is quite well-written.

My first and foremost thought is who wrote it? All we know is that Cavanna contracted to have someone else write it. Cavanna never revealed who that person was. We do know that Cavanna was reluctant to have everyone know that she did not write it. For a time during the 1980s, she had told at least one collector the truth but begged for silence. Later, Cavanna changed her mind and told a group of fans. After that gathering, it was common knowledge that Cavanna did not write the last Connie Blair book. From page 29 of Issue 31 of The Mystery and Adventure Series Review, Fred Woodworth tells the story:

In a 1984 issue of this magazine I published Don Holbrook's very favorable review of the Connie Blair series. After the piece was printed, I managed to locate the old author of the series and sent her a copy of the review. This resulted in some cordial correspondence, during the course of which she revealed—in strict confidence—that she had not written Ruby Queens herself, but had contracted with someone else to do so.

I'd have liked to bring this interesting tidbit to the attention of Review readers, but felt bound by my word that I would treat this fact as confidential. Imagine my surprise when, some months later, after I'd put that author in contact with some other fans of her books, she attended a convention of theirs as a featured speaker—and in her talk calmly announced the news that she had not written this story! The upshot was that other publications which had done nothing to review her work or even find out if she was still living, got to report this as if they'd run down the news themselves.

Now, back to my question of who wrote the last Connie Blair book? I kept this thought in mind as I read the book. I was struck by how good the book is. It was certainly not written by an amateur and must have been written by an established writer. It was written by someone who had read the early Connie Blair books and knew about the series. Was this person just an acquaintance of Cavanna, or was this person someone whose name we would recognize?