Murder on the Blackboard: Stuart Palmer

Hildegarde Withers, a third-grade teacher in New York City, finds the dead body of an attractive young music teacher, Anise Halloran, in the Teacher's Cloakroom. Miss Withers calls in her friend Inspector Piper, but by the time he arrives, the body has disappeared. And then, when he goes looking for the body, he gets cracked on the head and ends up recuperating in the hospital.

This is the third book in Stuart Palmer's series featuring Hildegarde Withers and Inspector Oscar Piper. Quite by accident they worked together to solve a murder in their first case, The Penguin Pool Murder. And this time, the crime takes place in the school where Miss Withers teaches.

Although Inspector Piper does not feature as prominently in this mystery, here is the introduction we get to that character before he is bashed over the head and banished to a hospital bed:

Let me explain to those of my readers who are having their first introduction to Oscar Piper, Inspector of Detectives, that he is a leanish, grayish man of somewhat indeterminate age, with a pugnacious lower lip and a pair of very chilly bluegray eyes. A badly-lighted cigar usually hangs from one corner of his mouth, and his speech, perhaps because he has risen from the ranks and is proud of it, smacks a little of Broadway, West Broadway. 

Even with Inspector Piper incapacitated, Miss Withers wastes no time in investigating the mystery. As the author tells us:

She had little respect for the intelligence of the police when Oscar Piper was in charge of a case, and none at all now that he lay on the operating table in the emergency ward at Bellevue.

Although Miss Withers initially gets involved in crime investigation accidentally, by this point she has a reputation for being helpful to the police. In fact, the principal of her school asks her to act on behalf of the school in her investigation, at least initially.

These were my favorite aspects of this story:

• The Hildegarde Withers stories are humorous, but they are not written exclusively for laughs. There is a serious story and Miss Withers is serious about her investigation.
• I enjoyed the depiction of life in the 1930s. The book was published in 1932 and Prohibition ended in 1933, and bootleg liquor figures into the story. Also, the workings of a big city elementary school at that time was interesting.
• Miss Withers is bossy, opinionated, and not afraid to speak her mind. She is a prime example of the spinster sleuth, although she isn't really that old (in her forties).

We also watched the film adaptation of this book starring Edna May Oliver and James Gleason. They are both perfect in their roles as Withers and Piper. Although the story in the film is very close to the plot of the book, Piper's role does change. In the movie, one of Piper's subordinates is the one knocked on the head and injured severely so Miss Withers and Inspector Piper do work together more than in the book. Miss Withers does take the initiative to go off on her own a bit. As usual, I prefer the book, but the movie is a lot of fun too.

There were six films based on Hildegarde Withers novels, and Edna May Oliver starred in the first three. Later she was replaced by Helen Broderick and Zazu Pitts.

See Also...

• Sergio's review at Tipping My Fedora
• Book and movie are discussed at The Poisoned Martini
• STUART PALMER & HILDEGARDE WITHERS: An Appreciation at Steven Saylor's website

This post is submitted for Friday's Forgotten Books at Patti Abbott’s blog. 

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Publisher:   Bantam Books, 1988 (orig. pub. 1932)
Length:      185 pages
Format:      Paperback
Series:       A Hildegarde Withers Mystery #3
Setting:      New York City
Genre:        Mystery
Source:      I purchased my copy.