"The Puzzle of the Red Stallion"

It was a beautiful morning for a horseback ride through New York City's Central Park. Too bad it ended in sudden - and most unnatural - death for the rider. As a result, the very considerable talents of schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers and her good friend, Inspector Oscar Piper proved to be essential in solving The Puzzle of the Red Stallion, by Stuart Palmer. It's the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the entire review by clicking here.

Stuart Palmer wrote more than a dozen novels and a fair number of short stories about schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers, whom he referred to as "that meddlesome old battleaxe." Hildy generally teamed up with her friend (and more than occasional rival), New York City Police Inspector Oscar Piper to solve mysteries which very often appeared impossible at first viewing.

The Puzzle of the Red Stallion, which was first published in 1935, was the sixth book to feature Hildy and Piper. It begins with a murder – a murder in which Miss Withers quickly becomes involved. The victim, a glamorous fashion model, had been riding her horse, a beautiful red stallion and former racing horse named Siwash. At first, there appears to be no good way to explain her death, as there is no evident wound on the body, though there is blood in Siwash. Miss Withers helps Piper solve that problem only to discover that, while there are plenty of suspects who might have had good reason to want the victim dead, none appeared to have had an opportunity to commit the murder. There is a great deal about horse racing in this book, and the sport does play a very important part in the solution of the mystery. There is more than one murder – and, I would have to say, a really nasty method for committing murder that almost evades detection.

While The Puzzle of the Red Stallion is not the strongest entry in the series, there are a couple of murders and some interesting characters. It was made into a movie called "Murder on a Bridle Path," but I don't think it's available for viewing at the moment. The book is a fairly quick, enjoyable read. There are used copies available from the usual sources, but it's also been published as a low-cost e-book from the Mysterious Press and Open Road Integrated Media.

This book is another entry for this year's Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge at the My Reader's Block blog. The challenge this year is to fill our "Bingo" - type cards with vintage mysteries (Gold = pre-1960 or Silver = 1961-1980) mysteries. On my Gold card, this book counts os "one book with an animal in the title.

 

Comments

[Margot Kinberg]

Les - One thing I like about this series is the dry wit in it. Of course the puzzles are generally well- written too, but I also like Palmer's ability to 'step back' and look at then- contemporary society. Or perhaps I'm the only one who thinks that.

[Les Blatt]

I agree, Margot. I think Palmer had a very dry sense of humor, and I like the way it reveals itself in his writing.

[Bev Hankins]

This was the second of Palmer's books that I read and since it was pre-blogging days I don't have any notes on it. It didn't make as big an impression on me as The Green Ace--which was my first introduction to Miss Withers. I have very fond memories of that one...which reminds me that I still need to find a copy and own it. :-)

I, too, enjoy the wit of this series and love Palmer's sense of humor.

[Les Blatt]

I must admit I haven't read "The Green Ace" yet. I see that it's one of the Palmers which Mysterious Press/Open Road Media have released as e-books, so I'll have to add it to my TBR pile. At least it's an electronic TBR pile, so there's less danger of being buried under a mound of books...

[D]

There is a box set of 6 of the 1930s Hildegarde Withers movies available from the Warner Archive folks. They sell it directly from their website, but it is available at much better prices elsewhere.

I never got past the Edna May Oliver films. She was so good in the part, other actresses didn't measure up.

[Les Blatt]

In fact, she was one of Palmer's inspirations when he created Hildy's character - he saw Oliver on stage (in "Showboat," I think) and modeled his character after her. Good to know about the movies - thanks!