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Hildegarde Withers
Hildegarde Withers: Uncollected Riddles
HILDEGARDE IS BACK! Hildegarde Withers, the creation of Stuart Palmer (1905-1968), is the original schoolmarm detective. After she first appeared in The Penguin Pool Murder in 1931, she was so popular that a series of movies starring Edna Mae Oliver and James Gleason followed, and Palmer wrote short stories about Miss Withers for Mystery, a slick-paper magazine sold only in Woolworth’s stores between 1933 and 1935. These stories, filled with the sights and sounds of New York during the depression – museums, flea-circuses, burlesque shows, Latin gigolos – are genuine forgotten classics.
- GenresMysteryShort Stories
196 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2002
8 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Stuart Palmer
91 books31 followersPseudonyms Theodore Orchards, Jay Stewart
Stuart Palmer (1905–1968) was an American author of mysteries. Born in Baraboo, Wisconsin, Palmer worked a number of odd jobs—including apple picking, journalism, and copywriting—before publishing his first novel, the crime drama Ace of Jades, in 1931. It was with his second novel, however, that he established his writing career: The Penguin Pool Murder introduced Hildegarde Withers, a schoolmarm who, on a field trip to the New York Aquarium, discovers a dead body in the pool. Withers was an immensely popular character, and went on to star in thirteen more novels, including Miss Withers Regrets (1947) and Nipped in the Bud (1951). A master of intricate plotting, Palmer found success writing for Hollywood, where several of his books, including The Penguin Pool Murder, were filmed by RKO Pictures Inc.
Stuart Palmer (1905–1968) was an American author of mysteries. Born in Baraboo, Wisconsin, Palmer worked a number of odd jobs—including apple picking, journalism, and copywriting—before publishing his first novel, the crime drama Ace of Jades, in 1931. It was with his second novel, however, that he established his writing career: The Penguin Pool Murder introduced Hildegarde Withers, a schoolmarm who, on a field trip to the New York Aquarium, discovers a dead body in the pool. Withers was an immensely popular character, and went on to star in thirteen more novels, including Miss Withers Regrets (1947) and Nipped in the Bud (1951). A master of intricate plotting, Palmer found success writing for Hollywood, where several of his books, including The Penguin Pool Murder, were filmed by RKO Pictures Inc.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 9, 2021
Enjoyable Stories
This collection firmly belongs to the Golden Age Detective Stories— on the other side of the Atlantic. True to the formula, here also an amateur outthinks the professionals and outwits the criminals. But it improves upon that formula by doing two things right. They are~
1. The humour is deftly used, with an appropriate dosage of weariness befitting an intelligent and independent protagonist.
2. In these stories women get their due to a great extent, in comparison to contemporary genre fiction.
The stories are highly improbable. But they are immensely enjoyable as well. What more can one ask for, from such 'lost classics'?
Recommended.
This collection firmly belongs to the Golden Age Detective Stories— on the other side of the Atlantic. True to the formula, here also an amateur outthinks the professionals and outwits the criminals. But it improves upon that formula by doing two things right. They are~
1. The humour is deftly used, with an appropriate dosage of weariness befitting an intelligent and independent protagonist.
2. In these stories women get their due to a great extent, in comparison to contemporary genre fiction.
The stories are highly improbable. But they are immensely enjoyable as well. What more can one ask for, from such 'lost classics'?
Recommended.
August 23, 2023
I never read a Hildegarde Withers story or book I didn't like.
October 4, 2025
Love this series. Well written with good story lines. Recommended.
Want to read
November 4, 2023Read so far:
*The riddle of the dangling pearl --
*The riddle of the flea circus --
The riddle of the forty costumes --
*The riddle of the brass band --
The riddle of the blueblood murders --2
*The riddle of the forty naughty girls --
The riddle of the hanging men --
The riddle of the marble blade --2
*The riddle of the whirling lights --
The riddle of the jack of diamonds --2
*The riddle of the tired bullet --
*The riddle of the dangling pearl --
*The riddle of the flea circus --
The riddle of the forty costumes --
*The riddle of the brass band --
The riddle of the blueblood murders --2
*The riddle of the forty naughty girls --
The riddle of the hanging men --
The riddle of the marble blade --2
*The riddle of the whirling lights --
The riddle of the jack of diamonds --2
*The riddle of the tired bullet --
August 18, 2012
I found this book after watching a 'one reeler' on TCM. The story intrigued me. It contains a series of stories about a school teacher and her 'beau' who is a police detective. Nice stories with a definite look of the 1920s/1930s in its descriptions and the 'place' of women. Comfortable easy read
January 31, 2016
read this SOMETIME in 2009 but this title is riddles instead of stories
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews