Hildegarde Withers

Hildegarde Withers is a fictional character who appeared in several novels and films. She was created by Stuart Palmer.

Miss Withers "whom the census enumerator had recently listed as 'spinster, born Boston, age thirty-nine, occupation school teacher'" becomes an amateur sleuth in the first book of the series. Her adventures are usually comic but are nevertheless straightforward mysteries. She is a sort of variation on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. "A lean, angular spinster lady, her unusual hats and the black cotton umbrella she carries are her trademark. ... Hildegarde collects tropical fish, abhors alcohol and tobacco, and appears to have an irritable disposition. However, she is a romantic at heart and will extend herself to help young lovers." She collaborates, and frequently butts heads, with Inspector Oscar Piper, a high-ranking homicide detective in the New York Police Department.

Edna May Oliver starred in the first three screen adaptations, produced by RKO Radio Pictures, and is considered the definitive Miss Withers. When Oliver left RKO in 1935 to sign with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, RKO attempted to continue the series with Helen Broderick and then ZaSu Pitts, but Oliver's presence was sorely missed and the films were poorly received. Author Palmer approved of Oliver's characterization so much that he gave the actress a mention in his Hollywood-based Withers novel The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligan.

In 1972, CBS made a Withers television movie with Eve Arden as Withers and James Gregory as Piper. The movie was well-received, but failed to produce any sequels.

Hildegarde Withers films

• The Penguin Pool Murder (1932), starring Edna May Oliver
• Murder on the Blackboard (1934), starring Oliver
• Murder on a Honeymoon (1935), starring Oliver (based on The Puzzle of the Pepper Tree, 1934)
• Murder on a Bridle Path (1936), starring Helen Broderick
• The Plot Thickens (1936), starring ZaSu Pitts
• Forty Naughty Girls (1937), starring Pitts
• A Very Missing Person (1972), starring Eve Arden, with Julie Newmar. Based on Hildegarde Withers Makes the Scene (1969), completed by Fletcher Flora after Palmer's death

• 1950s lost TV sitcom pilot Amazing Miss Withers, starring Agnes Moorehead and Paul Kelly

Hildegarde Withers novels by Stuart Palmer

• The Penguin Pool Murder (1931)
• Murder on Wheels (1932)
• Murder on the Blackboard (1932)
• The Puzzle of the Pepper Tree (1933)
• The Puzzle of the Silver Persian (1934)
• The Puzzle of the Red Stallion (1935) [also known as "The Puzzle of the Briar Pipe"]
• The Puzzle of the Blue Banderilla (1937)
• The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligan (1941)
• The Riddles of Hildegarde Withers (1947), an anthology of short stories
• Miss Withers Regrets (1947)
• Four Lost Ladies (1949)
• The Green Ace (1950) [also known as "At One Fell Swoop"]
• The Monkey Murder and other Tales (1950), and anthology of short stories
• Nipped in the Bud (1951) [also known as "Trap for a Redhead"]
• Cold Poison (1954) [also known as "Exit Laughing"]
• The People Vs. Withers and Malone (1963), written with Craig Rice
• Hildegarde Withers Makes the Scene (1969), completed by Fletcher Flora after Palmer's death
• Hildegarde Withers: Uncollected Riddles (2002) an anthology of short stories

External links

• Hildegarde Withers at the Internet Movie Database
• Stuart Palmer and Hildegarde Withers: An Appreciation, an article by Steven Saylor

• Penzler, Otto, et al. Detectionary. Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 1977. ISBN 0-87951-041-2