Trouble on the Tracks: Ruby and Maude Adventure Book 2

by Nancy Oswald

This is the second edition of Trouble on the Tracks .

Join Ruby May Oliver and her donkey and best friend, Maude as they return to the mining town of Cripple Creek in 1896 and find a new friend when a cat named Trouble entwines itself around Maude’s legs and Ruby’s heart.

Trouble and the adventurous eleven-year-olds Ruby and Maude try to stay out of trouble during the chaos following two fires in one week that have nearly destroyed the town. Can Ruby help it if she must interfere with a lynch mob ready to string up her friend Amos? And how was she to know that she would be stuck if she climbed out on the church roof? And about that business of getting trapped under a moving train, that was a mistake too. Had Ruby known the train was going to leave the station, she would have left Trouble to fend for herself.

As in the first Ruby and Maude Adventure, discouraging Pa’s budding romantic interest in Miss Sternum, the schoolmarm, remains paramount on Ruby’s mind. Ruby’s fervent desire is that she and Pa will return to their old life of roaming from mining town to mining town in the Rockies.

Trouble on the Tracks is Nancy Oswald’s fourth work of historical fiction set in Colorado.

A fun romp through the Old West, written with humor and charm. Ruby and Maude confront family troubles and thieving outlaws with spunk, smarts, and daring. The friendship between girl and donkey will delight readers of all ages.


—Kathleen Ernst, award-winning author of the Caroline Abbott series from American Girl


Ruby and Maude’s friendship deepens the story and will endear them to readers of all ages. I’m counting on more chapters from colorful Cripple Creek!


—Mary Cronk Farrell, award-winning MG/YA author

Trouble on the Tracks is the second book in the Ruby and Maude Adventure book series. These books can be read in any order.

217 pages, Paperback

Published March 21, 2022

About the author

Nancy Oswald loves the west and writing about it. She’s a native Coloradan with a focus on Colorado-set historical fiction for young readers. She has also published non-fiction articles, a biography, and a humorous baseball, sibling rivalry story. Oswald’s books have won the Willa Literary Award, Spur Award, Evvy Award, CAL Award, and have had numerous finalist recognitions. Nancy enjoys gardening and helping on the family ranch where she lives with her husband, cows, dogs, cats, and one nearly human donkey who makes mischief at home and on the pages of the Ruby and Maude Adventures set in Cripple Creek, 1896. Her first picture book was released October 1, 2019.