On a trip to the New York Aquarium with her third-grade class, a teacher discovers a dead body: "One of the world's shrewdest and most amusing detectives" ( The New York Times).For the third graders at Jefferson School, a field trip is always a treat. But one day at the New York Aquarium, they get much more excitement than they bargained for. A pickpocket sprints past, stolen purse in hand, and is making his way to the exit when their teacher, th...

His Honor finds a public-spirited corpse; the school-ma’am detective finds a murderer; and Inspector Piper discovers what was wrong with the four Fates, the beautiful marble hussy, and the nice young man with the beard. A Miss Hildegarde Withers Mystery!

Spinster sleuth Hildegarde Withers and Inspector Oscar Piper are on the case of murder among the dog breeders, in a case reminiscent of S.S. Van Dine's "The Kennel Murder Case" (1933).

A sharp-witted Manhattan schoolteacher tackles eight little mysteries in this collection from the author of The Puzzle of the Happy Holligan.When not teaching third graders, middle-aged singleton Hildegard Withers enjoys sipping orange pekoe tea, reading Sherlock Holmes stories, and tending to her tropical fish. And from time to time, she also helps her friend, Insp. Oscar Piper, with some puzzling cases . . ."The Riddle of the Lady from Du...

The savvy Miss Withers investigates a mysterious hanging-while-driving in this delightful addition to a classic cozy mystery series.As snow falls on the steps of the New York Public Library, a line of cars moves sluggishly down Fifth Avenue. Oblivious to the traffic, a blue Chrysler roadster tears down the street, hops the curb, and slams to a halt. The car is empty, its driver thrown half a block back. He's stone dead, his cigarette still burning, and a noose tied ...

A librarian who just came into money dies in a New York hotel room, and justice is overdue: "Full of fun and delightful people. A really terrific plot" ( Chicago Daily News).With a seven-hundred-dollar inheritance in her pocket, small town librarian Harriet Bascom went to the track. By the time she left she had thousands—enough to live life the way she had always wanted: with champagne, music, and love. The champagne and music flow freely once she arrives ...

WHEN IT COMES TO MURDER, THERE'S ALWAYS A CHOICE…The only thing more varied than how people are killed is the many, many ways people try to get away with this terrible crime. Now masterful mystery writer Dorothy Salisbury Davis brings together 23 classic stories of crime and suspense, whodunits and detective stories from some of the finest authors of the 1950s.Ross Macdonald's classic P.I. Lew Archer takes a chilling case in California, where the mob isn't ...

Curtain rises on a lonely deserted dock on the Long Beach waterfront, where the schooner Carma has just been moored that afternoon. The date is December 6, 1932; the hour 9:30 of a dank and dripping evening. The scene is set for murder…

There are lessons to be learned for retired teacher Hildegarde Withers when a society murder reveals a love triangle gone bad.The war in Europe is over, and America's fighting men are coming home. Lieutenant Pat Montague spent the war dreaming of a return to his beloved: society princess Helen Abbott. But when Uncle Sam finally lets him go, Pat finds that Helen has become Mrs. Huntley Cairns, and he has nothing to return to at all.He goes to see Helen at th...

When a Hollywood cartoonist is poisoned, sharp-witted sleuth Miss Withers must draw her own conclusions. "[Miss Withers is] . . . still one of the best" (Anthony Boucher).At Hollywood's most renowned cartoon studio, there are a few things you simply do not draw: snakes, cows with udders, violence, and death. So when Janet Poole finds a doodle of the studio's famous cartoon penguin with a noose around its neck, she takes the drawing as a threat. Someone at the studio...

A corrupt politician's trophy wife is targeted during a train ride: "The best of the Hildegarde Withers stories, and that is saying a good deal" ( The New York Times).Oscar Piper doesn't belong on Mexican trains. A New York City detective, he's in the Dominican Republic as part of an international delegation come to cut the ribbon on a new transcontinental highway. This grants him the honor of a trip to Mexico City on the hottest, dustiest train ...

The spinster sleuth is out to rescue a young woman whose hippie adventure turns deadly in this classic mystery from the author of The Penguin Pool Murder.During a six-week college break, Lenore Gregory does what all the young girls are doing in the winter of 1969: She heads to Greenwich Village to protest the Vietnam War, painting flowers on her Volkswagen. And just as she's starting to fit in, she disappears, becoming yet another missing hippie—and a prob...