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Cold Poison
Cold Poison
Cold Poison
Ebook235 pages3 hours

Cold Poison

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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 has murder on the mind. The top brass reach out to Hildegarde Withers, a retired amateur sleuth who has come to Los Angeles to relieve her asthma. The obvious suspect is Larry Reed, a disturbed cartoonist with a dark sense of mischief, but on Miss Withers’s first day working the case, something happens that suggests Larry is likely innocent: He’s murdered. This studio may work in animation, but Miss Withers will find the violence on the lot anything but cartoonish.  Cold Poison is part of the Hildegarde Withers Mysteries series, which also includes The Penguin Pool Murder and Murder on the Blackboard.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 14, 2013
ISBN9781480418929
Cold Poison
Author

Stuart Palmer

Stuart Palmer (1905–1968) was an American author of mysteries. Born in Baraboo, Wisconsin, Palmer worked a number of odd jobs—including apple picking, journalism, and copywriting—before publishing his first novel, the crime drama Ace of Jades, in 1931. It was with his second novel, however, that he established his writing career: The Penguin Pool Murder introduced Hildegarde Withers, a schoolmarm who, on a field trip to the New York Aquarium, discovers a dead body in the pool. Withers was an immensely popular character, and went on to star in thirteen more novels, including Miss Withers Regrets (1947) and Nipped in the Bud (1951). A master of intricate plotting, Palmer found success writing for Hollywood, where several of his books, including The Penguin Pool Murder, were filmed by RKO Pictures Inc.      

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The name Hildegarde Withers rang a bell for me, but I couldn’t place where it came from, except it seemed to be back in time. Book? Movie?Hildegarde Withers may not be a spring chicken, but she is a retired school teacher from New York now living in Southern California, who considers herself an amateur sleuth. A successful one, at that!She has been asked to investigate the appearance of some valentines that have appeared on the desks of some employees at an animation studio. Valentines, with some deadly messages. As a cover story for her reason to be at the studio, she is to be the chaperone to a standard poodle, who has been hired as a model for a new animated movie. Conveniently that poodle is her own dog, Tallyrand.The duo of sleuth and hound are able to explore the lot and the people involved. As an added help, her old friend and partner in previous cases, Detective Oscar Piper of New York, comes out to assist.A murdered top cartoonist, and two other employees are all recipients of one of the valentines. What is the purpose of these killings? Shut down of the studio? Cover up a past crime or murder?Between Withers' and Piper’s experience and determination, they put the pieces together and solve the crimes.Copyrighted in the 1950s, the book has a taste of 1940-50s style. I plan to do a bit of research on the author and see if there are more books. There is a reference to previous cases, so who knows?

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Cold Poison - Stuart Palmer

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