I sampled four stories from this anthology, which is part of the American Mystery Classics series published by Penzler Publications. Each story has an introduction with information about the author and the specific story. As I was not familiar with all of these authors, that information was welcome.
"The Enemy" by Charlotte Armstrong
This story begins with an altercation between a group of young boys and a man who lives in their neighborhood. A dog belonging to one of the boys has been found dead, poisoned. They blame the death on the man, who denies that he had anything to do with it. The police are brought in but say that there is no proof and they cannot follow up. Mike Russell is the amateur detective who offers to help the boys investigate further. An interesting story that has a surprising ending.
This story was recommended by Jerry House at a previous Short Story Wednesday post at Patti Abbott's blog.
"The Stripper" by Anthony Boucher
First paragraph:
He was called Jack The Stripper because the only witness who had seen him and lived (J. F. Flugelbach, 1463 N. Edgemont) had described the glint of moonlight on bare skin. The nickname was inevitable.
So what we have here is a serial killer who only works in the nude. I am not fond of serial killer mysteries, but since it is both short and a good locked-room mystery, that is OK.
Sister Ursula is a character in two of Anthony Boucher's novels and a few short stories. She works with Lieutenant Marshall on some cases. In this story, she calls Marshall to tell him that a professor at the university has some information about the possible identity of Jack the Stripper. Unfortunately by the time she calls the lieutenant, the professor has already been murdered. This is a locked-room story, with only three possible men who could be the culprit. The mystery did not impress me but it was a good read anyway.
"The Monkey Murder" by Stuart Palmer
Hildegarde Withers, a middle-aged school teacher, is the sleuth in this story, working with Detective Oscar Piper occasionally. Those two solved crimes in 14 mystery novels, and I have read and enjoyed three of those. There were also six film adaptations of the novels in the 1930s and I have watched all of those.
For me, it was fun to return to reading about these two characters, but overall the story did not make much sense to me.
I have at least one collection of Stuart Palmer's short stories starring Hildegarde Withers, and I will read more of them.
"Puzzle for Poppy" by Patrick Quentin
Peter and Iris Duluth are the detective pair in this story. The story was originally published in 1946. Peter Duluth is still in the military following the war; while he is on shore leave, he is enjoying a short vacation with his wife, an actress. They are renting one half of a hacienda in La Jolla, California; the other half is owned by a pregnant St. Bernard, who lives with her guardian, Miss Crump. Poppy, the St. Bernard, inherited most of the inheritance of her owner; there are unhappy relatives who would benefit if Poppy dies before she delivers her puppies. Miss Crump tells Peter and Iris that the relatives have tried to kill Poppy multiple times. So they try to locate those relatives, prove their guilt, and save the dog. A complex story, not a lot of surprises, but a fun read.
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