Judy Bolton Series

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The Judy Bolton detective series, created by Margaret Sutton, is notable because it created a realistic young woman who is able to solve mysteries. Although the series was not quite as popular as Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton is in many ways a more complex and believable role model for girls. Judy was also unique in that halfway through the series, she got married (something series book heroines rarely, if ever, did).

The mainstays of the series were Judy Bolton, auburn-haired girl detective; her brother, news reporter Horace Bolton; her parents, Doctor and Mrs. Bolton; her loyal black cat, Blackberry. She was torn for most of the early volumes between suitors, the wealthy Arthur Farringdon-Pett and the upstanding lawyer Peter Dobbs before finally choosing Peter in volume 10. Her best friend was Peter's sister, Grace Dobbs, also known as Honey; her rival for Arthur's affections was Lorraine Lee; she was friends with Arthur's sister, Lois Farringdon-Pett, and one of her archenemies in High School was the snobbish Kay Vincent. She also befriended a mill worker, Irene Lang, who later became Irene Meredith.

There were 38 titles in the original Judy Bolton series, all copyrighted between 1932 and 1967. The final 12, particularly the last one, had limited printings and as a result are hard to find. Collectors often find themselves paying upwards of $200 for a volume in good condition. Each story was based on an actual event from the author Margaret Sutton's life.

In 1997, some three decades after the last Judy Bolton title was issued by Grosset & Dunlap, author Linda Joy Singleton completed a book that series creator Margaret Sutton had begun writing several years before. Once the first draft was finished, Miss Singleton submitted it to Mrs. Sutton for revisions, and the book that emerged from their collaboration carries the name of both co-authors. Chronologically, The Talking Snowman takes place during the Christmas season between the events described in volume 3 and volume 4, and thus is known to collectors as "volume 3.5".