WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #39: HILDEGARDE WITHERS: UNCOLLECTED RIDDLES By Stuart Palmer

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Stuart Palmer started writing about schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers back in the 1930s. Palmer’s famous character and detective first appeared in The Penguin Pool Murder in 1931. Hildegarde Withers proved to be so popular, a series of movies featuring Withers–played by Edna Nat Oliver–delighted audiences for a decade.

The Hildegarde Withers stories in this volume collects stories from 1933 to 1948. Withers drives Police Inspector Oscar Piper crazy with her “out-of-the-box” analysis of the various murders they encounter. Stuart Palmer tended toward the “screw-ball” comedy aspects of crime as a glance at the titles of these Hildegard Withers stories will show.

My favorite of this bunch is “The Riddle of the Forty Costumes” where Withers solves the crime in a most ingenious fashion. If you’re looking for puzzle stories with a flare, I highly recommend Hildegarde Withers: Uncollected Riddles (2002). This is another wonderful book by Crippen & Landru! GRADE: A

INTRODUCTION: Stuart Palmer, Writer (21 June 1905-4 February 1968) By Jennifer Venola (Mrs. Stuart Palmer) — 7

The riddle of the dangling pearl — 9
The riddle of the flea circus — 25
The riddle of the forty costumes — 42
The riddle of the brass band — 60
The riddle of the blueblood murders — 79
The riddle of the forty naughty girls — 97
The riddle of the hanging men — 113
The riddle of the marble blade — 132
The riddle of the whirling lights — 150
The riddle of the Jack of Diamonds — 168
The riddle of the tired bullet — 181

Hildegarde Withers: Short Stories — 196

8 thoughts on “WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #39: HILDEGARDE WITHERS: UNCOLLECTED RIDDLES By Stuart Palmer

    1. george Post author

      Jeff, Crippen & Landru will publish another volume of Hildegarde Withers short stories in a few weeks. I consider Stuart Palmer an underrated writer.

      Reply
    2. Art Scott

      Edna “Nat” Oliver? Your flying fingers missed a couple: M next to N, Y next to T. There’s something to be said for us poor stiffs who have to look at the keyboard while typing.

      Reply
    1. george Post author

      Patti, I’d read a few Hildegarde Withers mystery stories over the years, but this Crippen & Landru collection gathers some of the best stories!

      Reply
  1. tracybham

    I have this book but I don’t think I have read any of the stories yet. I also have a book of stories that Palmer wrote with Craig Rice called People vs. Withers & Malone: An Inner Sanctum Mystery.

    I have read and enjoyed three of the Edna May Oliver novels by Palmer. I enjoyed all of them, but my favorite was The Puzzle of the Pepper Tree because it was set on Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California. And Oliver flies to the island in a Dragonfly Seaplane .

    Reply

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