Margaret Sutton was most famous as the author of the Judy Bolton Series

Judy Bolton Series

The Judy Bolton detective series, created by Margaret Sutton, follows a realistic young woman who solves mysteries. Although the series was not quite as popular as Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton has been called a more complex and believable role model for girls...

 of mystery books, 38 volumes published between 1932 and 1967. In addition to this series, she also wrote several books in the Gail Gardner series, The Magic Maker series, as well as several other books.

Her earlier Judy Bolton books were illustrated by Pelagie Doane

Pelagie Doane

Pelagie Doane was an American illustrator during the 1930s to the 1960s for children's books. She illustrated many volumes in the Judy Bolton series, as well as The Magic Makers series written by Margaret Sutton...

, who also illustrated her Magic Maker books. A Shepherd Boy of Australia and The Boys of the Ohio Valley were illustrated with photographs. Almost all her books were published by Grosset & Dunlap (with the exception of the Gail Gardner series) alongside the books released by the Stratemeyer Syndicate

Stratemeyer Syndicate

The Stratemeyer Syndicate was the producer of a number of mystery series for children, including Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others.- History :...

.

Her Judy Bolton books were advertised as all being based on actual events from Sutton's life. The series ended in 1967, before the next book The Strange Likeness could be published.

In 1997, Linda Joy Singleton privately published Judy Bolton: The Talking Snowman, a new Judy Bolton mystery written by Sutton and Singleton. Sutton began the manuscript for this book in 1980, and years later Singleton finished it with help from Sutton. The incidents in this book placed it between the 3rd and 4th books in the series, leading it to be known as book # 3-1/2.

She was born Rachel Beebe on in Odin, Pennsylvania and she died at age 98 in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania

Lock Haven, Pennsylvania

The city of Lock Haven is the county seat of Clinton County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Located near the confluence of the West Branch Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek, it is the principal city of the Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, micropolitan statistical area, itself part of the...

 as Margaret S. Hunting from her second marriage to Everett Hunting.

Books and Series by Margaret Sutton

• Judy Bolton Series
  Judy Bolton Series
  The Judy Bolton detective series, created by Margaret Sutton, follows a realistic young woman who solves mysteries. Although the series was not quite as popular as Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton has been called a more complex and believable role model for girls...
  
   (38 volumes, 1932-1967)
• Gail Gardner (at least 2 volumes, 1944-?)
• A Shepherd Boy of Australia (1941)
• Two Boys of the Ohio Valley (1943)
• The Magic Makers (at least 3 volume, 1936)
• Wer spielt mit mir? (Released in the USA as "Who will play with me?"; Illust: Corinne Dillon; Wonder Book, 1951/1958)
• Fruits of the Earth; A collection of poems by Margaret Sutton (UK release) (1963)
• Lollypop: The True Story of a Little Dog (1939)
• Jemima, Daughter of Daniel Boone (1942)
• Two Boys of the Ohio Valley (1943)
• The Haunted Apartment (1946)
• Who will play with me? (1951)
• Palace Wagon Family: A True Story of the Donner Party (1957)
• The Weed Walk (1965)
• Kay Darcy and the Mystery Hideout (under pseudonym Irene Ray), Whitman, 1937;

External links

• Margaret Sutton's obituary http://www.judybolton.com/obituary.html

• Judy Bolton home page http://www.judybolton.com