Hildegarde Withers: Final Riddles?

Hildegarde Withers was one of the first female schoolmarm detectives to appear in mystery. From her appearance in The Penguin Pool Murder in 1931, the teacher caught the attention of the American reading public. In the years that followed, she appeared in a number of films, a humorous series of collaborative mysteries with the Chicago lawyer, John J. Malone, and of course – short stories.

Multiple collections of Stuart Palmer’s works exist, including Crippen & Landru’s Hildegarde Withers: Uncollected Riddles in 2002. Now nearly two decades later, another Crippen & Landru collection Hildegarde Withers: Final Riddles? As more newspapers, magazines, and documents are put online, we have been able to locate more works by Palmer, with possibly more to come in the future. Hence, the less than certain title .

This collection contains stories about Hildegarde Withers, Howie Rook, Sherlockiana, and other characters as well.

Most of the 15 tales in this superb collection feature Palmer’s best-known creation, Hildegarde Withers, a New York City public school teacher whose acumen rivals Miss Marple’s. In the clever “The Riddle of the Black Spade,” Withers tackles the puzzle of an attorney on a Long Island golf course killed by a massive blow from a golf ball; mystery buffs will note that its original publication in October 1934 was in the same month that Nero Wolfe debuted with a similar plot. Another entertaining display of Withers’s deductive chops, “You Bet Your Life,” includes the real-life host of the game show of that name, Groucho Marx. Sherlockians will relish the pastiches “The Adventure of the Marked Man” and “The Adventure of the Remarkable Worm,” which demonstrate a superior ability to imitate Conan Doyle while enabling Watson to affectionately tweak his know-it-all friend. The creepy “How Lost Was My Father?” tackles the legendary disappearance of a Tennessee farmer in 1880 while in plain view of several witnesses. News that Palmer (1905–1968) probably left enough uncollected stories for a future volume will excite fans of literate, smart mystery fiction. (Nov. 2021)

Stuart Palmer (1905-1968) was a jack of all trades, trying everything from apple-picking to ghostwriting until he wrote his first novel. His second novel, The Penguin Pool Murder, launched his career. Palmer would later say that Withers was based on his high-school English teacher, who set him on the path to writing professionally. He would write fourteen more novels about Withers along with dozens of short stories.

Even as Hildegarde broke into movies, so did Palmer. He wrote the screenplays for B-movie characters like The Falcon, Bulldog Drummond, and The Lone Wolf. Palmer was well-known in the mystery community from the 1940s until his death. His comedic hijinks with mystery writer Craig Rice moved from writing screenplays together to collaborating on a series of stories that featured both his character (Withers) with her character (Malone.) John Dickson Carr called Palmer one of the “great masters of the game.” Reviewer and author Anthony Boucher called Hildegarde Withers “one of the best spinster sleuths.” Palmer served as President of Mystery Writers of America in 1954.

Palmer passed away in 1968. His final novel, Hildegarde Withers Makes the Scene, was completed by Fletcher Flora and published the next year.