Murder on the Blackboard

By Stuart Palmer

While overseeing detention, Miss Withers finds a fellow schoolteacher's corpse.

Anise Halloran is young to be teaching school, and much too pretty, but third-grade teacher Hildegarde Withers is not the sort to condemn a coworker just because she wears high heels. When she overhears nine-year-old Buster Jones spreading rumors about Miss Halloran being sweet on the principal, Miss Withers orders the schoolyard quarterback to write discipline on the chalkboard one hundred times. Anise Halloran stays late after school, too. In fact, she stays forever.

Miss Withers finds Anise in the cloakroom, her head bashed in, and her high heels strewn across the floor. She sends Buster to fetch Inspector Piper, the hard-nosed detective whom she occasionally assists with murder inquiries, but by the time he arrives, the body has vanished. There is a killer inside the elementary school, and Buster Jones is not the only person whom Miss Withers will have to teach a lesson about discipline.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784087623

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.      

Reviews for Murder on the Blackboard

[antiquary_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A early Withers mystery with a setting in a New York City grammar school --less exotic and more natural for Withers than some later ones. The pretty young music teacher is murdered and a drunken janitor is suspected, by Hildegard has other ideas.

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This 3rd entry in the Golden Age mystery series featuring Hildegarde Withers wasn't quite as much fun as the first book. I think that was due to the fact that Inspector Piper spends most of the book in the hospital and so is limited in his interactions with Miss Withers. I love the way these two spar! Still, there was plenty to enjoy and I look forward to reading more of these.

[devenish_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another case for school teacher sleuth Hildegarde Withers. Stuart Palmer described his creation as a 'meddlesome old battleaxe' and that is not far from the truth. The murder of a young female teacher,early in the book,sets Hildegarde off on her investigations once more. In this story Inspector Oscar Piper is badly hurt and helpless in hospital for much of the book so is even less help in solving the case than usual.The main interest here is in Miss Withers character rather than the somewhat boring (though horrible) murder itself.As I have stated many times before (and no doubt will many times again) is the superb quality of the books produced by the Rue Morgue Press. The cover is excellent and the books extremely well bound. They always list the Cast of Characters on the first page which I always find very useful. There is usually a well-written introduction and in this case a plan of the school where the story takes place.

[leahhenderson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Miss Hildegegard Withers stumbles onto the dead body of the grammer schools music teacher. While she is contacting the authorities, the body vanshes. When Hildegard's friend, Inspector Piper, investigates, he is hit from behind with a shovel and knocked unconscious. The Janitor can't seem to tell a straight story, so the police focus on him as a suspect. Have they got the right man? Follow the twists and turns as Miss Hildegard Withers investigates.