Stuart Palmer (1) (1905–1968)

I first came across Stuart Palmer because I’m a movie buff, my specialty being films of the 1930s and ‘40s. Palmer wrote the screenplays for a few Bulldog Drummond films, as well as entries for the Flacon and Lone Wolf series. But Palmer was also a novelist, and had great success right out of the gate in the early 1930s with his Hildegarde Withers mysteries. His first novel featuring the sharp-tongued and sometimes comic older schoolmarm who was the best friend — and worst critic — of Inspector Oscar Piper, The Penguin Pool Murders, was adapted by RKO Pictures starring Edna May Oliver, whom Palmer had based the character on in the first place.

Palmer then wrote over a dozen novels featuring the popular Miss Withers. He also penned a slew of short Miss Withers stories, some of them for a magazine called Mystery which was exclusive to Woolworth’s. Palmer teamed with the fabulous Craig Rice at one point, combining his Miss Withers with Rice’s hard drinking attorney/detective J.J. Malone for a collection of short stories.

Here we get five Miss Hildegarde mysteries, and they are very enjoyable. There isn’t a load of character development here, but the pacing of these rather cozy mysteries is reminiscent of the whiz-bang pulp style. Brisk and breezy in narrative and brief in length, these are perfect for bedtime when you don’t want to get into anything heavy or long. Of the five stories, I can’t say I have a definite favorite, because they are all enjoyable. Miss Withers is not endearing like her British counterparts, Miss Marple and Miss Silvers, but neither is she unlikable, and the whiz-bang pacing leaves the reader little time to be annoyed with her occasionally quick and caustic manner.

THE PUZZLE OF THE SCORNED WOMAN was first published in The New York Sunday News of 1942, so is a later Miss Withers story. Someone uses a girl’s attempted suicide to exact revenge, and Miss Withers makes some very clever deductions to solve the case. When Oscar’s nab goes south, however, it is some quick thinking by the alert school teacher that saves the day.

THE RIDDLE OF THE YELLOW CANARY was first published in 1934 in the aforementioned Mystery, the slick-papered magazine where she appeared in short form from 1933-1935. If I did perhaps have a favorite among the five stories, I’d probably have to say it was this one. A music publisher plans to get rid of a little problem he has with the help of poison, but Miss Withers, as usual miles ahead of her police pal Oscar Piper, deduces a suicide was no suicide at all. There is a lot of atmosphere in this one, from a yellow canary and a tune called May Day, to some fun business on a train as Miss Withers attempts to keep the murderer from getting away.

A FINGERPRINT IN COBALT was first published in the New York Sunday News of 1938 and starts off with a bang when an old wardrobe at an auction is discovered — quite dramatically — to contain a body. A painting, a glass sliver, and young love all come into play in this enjoyable little mystery.

THE RIDDLE OF THE DOCTOR’S DOUBLE has the grizzled but generally happy Inspector and the angular sleuth enjoying a night of music when on the stroll home they hear a scream from a window above. Toy horses, secret passages and young love all make this one another fun one.

GREEN FIRE was first published in The Chicago Tribune in 1941. A smash and grab at a jewelry store leaves an officer dead, and Oscar is in jeopardy of losing his job when the emerald ring left behind is returned for and taken by the thieves. A witness very smitten with a young copper and a crazy — literally — painter are a couple of elements adding color to this final story.

This is a very enjoyable collection of short mysteries which is a good introduction to Miss Withers for those new to Stuart Palmer’s creation, especially since it contains both early and later stories. Overall, great fun!… (mere)

3.5*

This 5th book in the Hildegarde Withers series takes Miss Withers across the Atlantic to England in order to rest & recuperate from her previous adventure in Catalina. Of course, instead of resting, she gets involved in a mysterious disappearance on the voyage and a series of murders once in England.

The mystery is very good - I kept changing my mind about who I thought had done it. Miss Withers wasn't quite her usual acerbic self (though that is explained in the denouement) and I missed Oscar Piper, the NYC police inspector she usually pesters & helps but the Scotland Yard sergeant was a pleasant replacement. Inspector Cannon was a cop who rose through the ranks like Piper but Sgt. John Secker was one of the "new-fangled" officers who had gone to university. The 1930s must have been when these officers were first becoming common & certainly there are many of them in detective books! Secker & Cannon reminded me of Patricia Wentworth's Frank Abbot & Chief Inspector Lamb.… (mere)