Some very good news today from Open Road Media, a company which has been making a significant number of Golden Age mysteries, both from the US and from England, available in electronic editions. The latest author to benefit from this treatment is Stuart Palmer, whose series detective, Hildegarde Withers, is one of my perennial favorites. Palmer frequently referred to her more-or-less affectionately as "that meddlesome old battleaxe," but Hildy Withers is nobody's fool, and she makes an interesting team with New York City Inspector Oscar Piper, with whom she maintains a rather prickly friendship.
Palmer created the character of Hildegarde Withers with actress Edna May Oliver in mind, In fact, Oliver did star as Hildy in several popular movies in the mid-1930s, opposite James Gleason as Inspector Piper.
As a general rule, the stories are well-plotted and told with some nice humorous touches. I've already reviewed nine of Palmer's books on this blog, and you can find a full list on the backlist page - just scroll down (the authors are listed alphabetically). I'll be reviewing more books from the series, now that Open Road is making them available. If you haven't met Hildegarde Withers...now is the time! I should mention that Open Road is also publishing some additional Stuart Palmer titles that do not have Hildy - I'll be looking forward to trying them as well.
Les - Your timing is quite good here. I'm planning a spotlight of one of Palmers' novels in a few weeks. So good to hear Open Road is making that series more easily available. It's good to know there are publishers interested in bringing back these great series.
Posted by: Margot Kinberg | May 16, 2013 at 04:45 PM
Thanks for the great news about Hildy's return to print Les - just fabulous!
Posted by: Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) | May 17, 2013 at 03:12 AM
Agreed, Sergio. The Withers books are funny and, generally, well-plotted puzzles. Glad you enjoy them!
Posted by: Les Blatt | June 01, 2013 at 02:08 PM
Margot, Open Road has been working with Otto Penzler's Mysterious Press to make some vintage authors' extensive backlists available as e-books. I'm thoroughly in favor!
Posted by: Les Blatt | June 01, 2013 at 02:10 PM