The Voice in the Suitcase

Judy Bolton Mysteries #8

by Margaret Sutton, Pelagie Doane (Illustrator)

The girls from Farringdon High have a picnic in the country, and during the picnic, two unkempt men arrive and ask for food. They have a suitcase with them from which comes a strange wailing noise. Judy is intrigued and wonders what kind of device is hidden in the suitcase.

Later, Judy and Honey are accidentally left behind when the buses leave the picnic grounds. As they walk along a country road, they encounter a man lying in a ditch with a suitcase next to him. Judy feels certain that this man is somehow connected to the other two men and that the suitcase is the same suitcase.

Judy and Honey are rescued by Peter and Horace, who also take the man home to his family. Judy learns that his name is Brady, and when she meets a new neighbor, Selma Brady, she feels certain of a connection. Judy travels with Selma to help clean house for her grandparents wedding anniversary. She once again meets the strange man from the ditch and becomes involved in a new and dangerous mystery.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Childrens

212 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Margaret Sutton was born Rachel Irene Beebe in Odin, Pennsylvania in 1903. She was the daughter of Victor Beebe, a well-known historian, and Estella Andrews Beebe. Being a spirited nonconformist, she dropped out of high school, but in 1920, graduated from the Rochester Business Institute. After graduation, she worked for several years as a secretary and in printing. During that time, she met William Sutton at a church dance in New York City. After a courtship exchanging poems and playing chess, they were married in 1924, and she began writing stories for her husband's daughter, Dorothy. Her first Judy Bolton Mystery was published in 1932 under the pen name Margaret Sutton. Ms. Sutton wove many real events and places into the Judy Bolton stories through the 35-year history of the series. She also wrote numerous stories for children and young adults. She was also active in social causes, joining the historic March on Washington in 1964. In 1965, her husband of more than 40 years died. In 1975, after traveling extensively, she married a long-time family friend, Everett Hunting. They moved to Berkeley, California and made their home there until 1993 when they moved back to Pennsylvania. Mr. Hunting died shortly after they moved. In 2001, at the age of 98, Margaret Sutton died in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, not far from her native Potter County.

Reviews

[Jessie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best of the Judy Bolton series. I found Judy's actions to be incredibly irrational and the plot was more far-fetched than usual for a girls mystery series book.

This book does gain points for the advancement of the Arthur v. Peter plot line, with such quotes as "What a nuisance, having to narrow down to just one boy when I like two so well. I suppose I'll just spend the rest of my life see-sawing between Arthur and Peter and never really falling in love with either of them."

Overall, worth reading if you are a devoted fan of the series as the series does progress chronologically as Judy ages, however, if you are new to Judy Bolton, The Voice in the Suitcase does not best represent the series.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a man!” Honey, do you think he’s dead?” I guess so.” “Maybe he’s just drunk,” she said…”I just want to shake him to see.” “Don’t you dare!” “Why not? If he’s dead he can’t hurt us and if he’s only drunk it may rouse him up….” “I don’t want to rouse him up,” cried Honey in a panic…If you touch him I’ll scream! “That might rouse him too.”

So, this was the first Judy Bolton I ever read. It got my attention to say the least. It starts off pretty tamely with Judy and Honey at a school picnic discussing a recent burglary of the Hamilton house. They are at a state park and the kids encounter some bums begging for food.  Remember this was written during the depression. Judy is intrigued to hear what sounds like a voice coming from one of the bum’s suitcase. Due to a misunderstanding, the school bus leaves without them and they start to walk home (40 miles!) and on the way, they encounter one of the bums seemingly dead or drunk in a ditch with his suitcase. Luckily, because a girl named “Tagalong” alerted  Peter and Horace that Judy and Honey had been left behind, they show up in the car to pick them up. They give the man a ride but on the way he asks to be let off at a lonely house in the middle of the boonies. The name on the mailbox is “Brady.”

Back at home, Judy's young friend Tagalong,  introduces her to the poor but proud Brady family. Tagalong’s BFF is Selma Brady, a friendship she keeps secret from her socially prominent and snobby family. Tagalong is a little rebel.  The Brady father’s parents, who live at the old house that “the bum” asked to be dropped off at,  are celebrating their golden wedding anniversary on Thanksgiving weekend. Selma has been dragooned into  visiting them to help  them prepare for the big party and Judy volunteers to go in Tag’s place to help her. Also, she is afraid to go their house alone. Of course, Judy’s main interest is to further investigate the talking suitcase which she believes is still at the Brady home. To add to the excitement, we also learn that Selma’s father, Walter Brady, has been arrested for the burglary of the Hamilton home, one of a series of recent burglaries in Farringdon.

What really stood out about this, my first Judy Bolton, was how many times, I thought to myself when reading, “This would never happen to Nancy Drew!” Selma’s grandmother is a hateful old witch who claims to have psychic powers. She threatens to shoot her granddaughter (and Judy) and resents all of their hard work trying to clean the house and prepare for the family reunion/anniversary party. Their house is absolutely filthy and every inch is covered in trash and dirt except for some paths through the dirty clothes and litter. Margaret description of the house and its inhabitants is priceless. For dinner, they have dry bread dunked in milk, which the Grandfather eats  with “a sucking sound.” That night, Judy and Selma sleep in dirty beds and are awakened by scurrying sounds and chains rattling. That morning, when Judy looks in a mirror she sees animal tracks across her face, which Judy surmises are rat tracks. Judy’s Thanksgiving was shaping up to be one to remember, and it was just the beginning.

By the end of the story The Brady’s house is clean, the party is a great success, The old couple have mellowed (a bit), and an innocent man has been proven innocent. And the voice in the suitcase has been revealed. No spoilers but the clues are all there for the alert reader
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings....

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am re-reading all the Judy Bolton books, more than 40 years after I read them the first time. i was able to salvage some of my own from my flood-ravaged basement, but others I'm having to buy from Amazon. I LOVE the series all over again -- even though the author really takes a turn in some of them. I am amazed at how some of the characters spoke to each other, but that is what i like: i feel like I am in the middle of a group of catty women! This book, however, caught me off-guard. The plot jumps are almost hard to follow and the "coincidences" just a little too far-fetched. Judy varely knows this girl, yet goes along for several weeks to help clean a house? The description of the dirty Brady house, and the fact that the girls brought JUST a bag of soap and some rags and were able to get that house "sparkling" clean in time for a party? AND, what I thought was really out there, is the party was held the last week in November in northern Pennsylvania -- and everyone just sat outside and had a picnic? Really?

[Stephanie]

I was delighted to discover that several books in the Judy Bolton mystery series have been reissued--I bought this from Amazon. Apparently it is the longest-running detective series by a single author (to differentiate it from Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, etc.). This book was missing from my mother's collection so it was a treat to get to read it, as of course it is referenced in many of the books that follow.

[Marlea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Selma was a completely insufferable character. And the mystery was really just complicated and anticlimactic. Definitely a poor installment in an otherwise fun, vintage series.

[LuAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly some interesting characters in this one, especially Grandma Brady. The mystery revolves around just what the title says and leads Judy to fly in her friend's plane with a young girl she barely knows to clean her grandparents house for an anniversary party and hunt for the source of the mysterious voice.

The incidents and decisions aren't always connected well in this one as they weren't in the prior book in the series. And to nickname the youngest child in a family Tag-along and use it thoughout the book, even when Judy dislikes the superior way the older sisters treat the girl, really grates on current sensibilities.

[Mazzou B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Judy Bolton. So realistic and interesting!

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, not the best.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coincidences abound in this mystery. At a picnic with a group of schoolmates, two odd men, carrying a suitcase, ask for food. Judy is puzzled — there seems to be something strange about the men and their relationship. And she could have sworn she heard a voice coming out of the suitcase!

Then Judy and Honey accidentally get left behind when the buses and cars leave, forcing them to start walking towards Judy's grandparents' home. On the way they find a man, unconscious, by the side of the road, and the mysterious suitcase nearby! Luckily their brothers arrive looking for them, and they give the man a ride to a nearby old house.

Judy is surprised to learn that the old couple living there are related to a new family in town, the Bradys; a family young Jean Hamilton has befriended, much to the dismay of her snobbish older sisters. But where is Mr. Brady? Could he possibly be involved in something nefarious? Judy hopes not, and sets out to prove his innocence. Enjoyable and very fast-moving.

[Randy Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favorite Judy Bolton book, but then, there have been some good ones to live up to, and I imagine with any series there are ups and downs. Making a point to read them in order, too, takes the pressure off any given book—as they all work together as one extended whole. Not that this isn’t a good story, a good mystery—it is. Lots of crazy stuff going on. It’s mostly about the grandparents (and uncle) of Judy’s new friend, Selma, one of the poor kids in town, the mill workers. The mysterious suitcase with a voice coming from it is the oddity that drives the plot, to some degree. There are plenty of funny and odd events—once again, an aviation near disaster. And there’s the everyday horrors of staying in this truly rustic country house—where the girls have to deal with the eccentric older people, a shortage of food and comforts, and some kind of creatures running over Judy’s face as she sleeps. As usual, she’s brave and resourceful—you have to love Judy Bolton.

[Anna O. · Rating 4 out of 5]

book 8

We start the book out in a lovely picnic, when two unkempt men interrupt the gathering, asking for food. They act very suspicious, especially while holding onto a suitcase that emits a strange noise. Judy and Honey, are accidentally left behind, deciding to make their way back home they slowly make progress, but not before they see one a man in a ditch, with what appears to be the same suitcase the men from earlier had. Rescued by Horace and Peter, the girls and the stranger are taken back into town. Along the way, Judy makes a new friend, Selma, together they decide to restore her grandparents house to its former glory, for her grandparents wedding anniversary. Once there, Judy meets the stranger from the road, and one thing leads to another and sparks up a mystery Judy can't wait to solve.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this one because Judy had to get over her high-toned ideas about families. She took one look at her new friend Selma's elderly grandparents' run-down home, desperately in need of cleaning, and immediately decided they were deficient in some way. To her credit, she helped Selma clean the house and worked hard to overcome her belief that Uncle Elmer was a crook. Grandma never did give Judy a break--that was pretty funny because the girl detective is used to people fawning all over her once she solves a mystery.

[Jessica Dudenhofer Beery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continues to be a great old series. This one includes a redneck family, hunting ferrets, a 50-year-old feud between a married couple (that ends up really cute) and, of course, a suitcase that talks! ;) There is always a reasonable explanation and Judy continues to learn great life lessons in judging others, true friends, etc.

[DocNora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this with all it's 1929 depression era period details. Grandma Brady threatening to get out her gun & shoot someone dead is just so American! Peter with all his old fashioned courtesy.. I was lucky enough to find a rare copy on eBay of this same edition with dust jacket &read it the moment I unpacked it!

[Nancy Bandusky · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not one of my favorite Judy Bolton mysteries, this one does focus on Judy and some new/lesser known characters. There is also the increase in Judy's dilemma between her two male friends. A worthwhile read if one is wanting to read the whole series.

[Carol Hooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one a little better than previous ones. I think because there were new characters and the fact that Judy was doubting herself at times. She seemed a little more "real" if that makes sense.

[Sarah TheAromaofBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have I mentioned that these books are wildly impractical??

[Kristi · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was by far the most confusing Judy Bolton mystery I ever read. It seems to have a lot of loopholes in it and unexplained parts.

[Jasanna Czellar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute book reminds me of Nancy Drew. I haven't read one of this genre in a long time and it was a nice, refreshing, and quick read!

[Raegan Cantrelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a fun read, nothing crazy mysterious or thriller like.
It gave me Nancy Drew vibes

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am reading my way through this series and this one (so far) is the weakest one. It just made no sense to me at all! Coincidences abound, a young girl is expected to go to a filthy house by herself (Judy accompanies her but that doesn't seem to have been the original plan) and get it spruced up for a party that the owners are supposedly unaware is about to happen, and that's just for starters! That said I loved Judy in this one. She's flawed but she is aware of her flaws and she's working on them. I can see why this series is so popular with fans. It's all down to Judy herself.