Margaret Sutton

Margaret Sutton biography, c.1944, from flap of Gail Gardner book dust jacket

Margaret Sutton (January 22, 1903 - June 21, 2001) was the pen name of Rachel Beebe, an American author and teacher who is famous as being the author of the Judy Bolton Series 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.^[1]

Biography

Sutton was born Rachel Beebe, in Odin, Pennsylvania on January 22, 1903. Her parents were Victor L. Beebe, a historian, musician, and carpenter, and Estella Andrews Beebe. She grew up in Coudersport, near the New York State border. Sutton found a love of storytelling from her mother at an early age, and even though she would not publish her first book for many years, she never lost her love of reading and writing. Sutton also loved literature and history, which she probably inherited from her father, who wrote "The History of Potter County." ^[2]

She attended Rochester Business Institute in New York to become a stenographer. When she graduated, she got a job as a secretary in a printing office. Later, she taught creative writing to adults and many of her students became published authors.^[3]

In 1924, Sutton married William Henry Sutton. They had five children together. It wasn't until after she married him, that her writing career began. It started when she wrote stories for William's daughter. Later, in 1932, she published her first book, The Vanishing Shadow, about a girl named Judy Bolton who solves mysteries. The novel was published under a pen name, Margaret Sutton. After William died in 1965, she married Everett Hunting ten years later.^[4]

She published a religious education curriculum, "Letters to Live By, which was taught in churches across the country and she and her husband, William, founded the South Nassau Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Freeport, N.Y. Additionally, Sutton was an activist, in social causes such as fair housing and participated in the historic "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" in 1963.^[5]

She died at age 98 in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, as Margaret S. Hunting from her second marriage to Everett Hunting. She died of natural causes.^[6]

Judy Bolton

The first Judy Bolton book, was published in 1932, called ''The Vanishing Shadow.'' Sutton was best known for writing the Judy Bolton mystery series, which sold more than five million copies. Her Judy Bolton books were advertised as all being based on actual events from Sutton's life. Many of the Judy Bolton stories on events from Sutton's hometown, Coudersport, Pennsylvania.^[7][8]

Her earlier Judy Bolton books were illustrated by Pelagie Doane, who also illustrated her Magic Maker books.

The last book that Sutton published was ''The Secret of the Sand Castle,'' in 1967. The series ended in 1967, before the next book The Strange Likeness could be published. However, 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.

In 2012, with the permission of Margaret Sutton's family, coauthors Kate Duvall and Beverly Hatfield wrote "The Strange Likeness" based on Margaret Sutton's original title and the beginnings of a plot outline plus research and conversations with the author many years ago. It was edited by Margaret Sutton's youngest daughter, Lindsay Sutton Stroh, and illustrated by another daughter, Marjorie Sutton Eckstein. Published by Applewood Books, the volume is #39 in the Judy Bolton Mystery Series.

Other publications

Sutton wrote many books including several in the Gail Gardner series, and The Magic Maker series. 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. A Shepherd Boy of Australia and The Boys of the Ohio Valley were illustrated with photographs.^[9]

Books and Series by Margaret Sutton

• Judy Bolton Series (38 volumes, 1926-1967)
• Gail Gardner (at least 5 volumes, 1944-?), inspired by letters from her niece, Rosaleen Ingalls, in medical school and as a WAC nurse.
• A Shepherd Boy of Australia (1941)
• Two Boys of the Ohio Valley (1943)
• The Magic Makers (at least 3 volumes, 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;

References

External links

• Margaret Sutton's obituary
• Judy Bolton home page
• Works by Margaret Sutton at Project Gutenberg