Judy Bolton Series

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.

Her best friend was Peter's sister, Grace Dobbs, known as Honey; her rival for Arthur's affections was Lorraine Lee.

Judy was friends with Arthur's sister, Lois Farringdon-Pett, and one of her high-school archenemies was snobbish Kay Vincent.

Judy Bolton has been called a better feminist role model than Nancy Drew because "Nancy Drew is more likely to uphold the ideological status quo, while Judy Bolton is more likely to restore moral rather than legal order, because her mysteries tend to emphasize human relationships over material possessions.

"[1] Unlike Drew, Bolton often enlists the aid of family members and friends in solving mysteries; she "works in a collaborative way that subverts dominant values.

"[2] Judy is emotional and self-doubting; for this reason she has been called a "more believable" female role model.

[3] As a part of her collaborative approach, Judy is often defined in relation to men: as Dr. Bolton's daughter or later, as Peter Dobbs's wife.

The final twelve had limited printings and as a result were hard to find until they were reissued.

According to author Margaret Sutton, the series was killed due not to poor sales, but to pressure from the Stratemeyer Syndicate.

The Stratemeyer Syndicate wished to lessen competition for the Nancy Drew series.

A number of translations were published internationally, including Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Spanish editions.

In 1997, Linda Joy Singleton completed a book that series creator Margaret Sutton had begun writing several years before.

Singleton submitted it to Sutton for revisions, and the book carries the names of both authors.

Sutton had created the title and the beginnings of a plot outline for a mystery located in Panama in 1968.

In 2018, The Mystery on Judy Lane was published, also written by Hatfield, bringing the total books in the series to 42.