THE PENGUIN POOL MURDER: The First Hildegarde Withers Mystery ( A Rue Morgue Vintage Mystery)

Boulder, CO, U.S.A.: Rue Morgue Press, 2007. 1st prtg. A fine, unread copy of this trade paperback. A class trip to a Manhattan aquarium leads Miss Withers to her first case. Although the stock market had crashed recently, it was too early for most people to predict that the Great Depression was about to get under way. For 39-year-old spinster schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers, it's business as usual. And part of her usual business is taking her class for an outing to the aquarium to see the penguins. Instead, she spots the floating corpse of Wall Street broker Gerald Lester and quickly realizes that Inspector Oscar Piper ofNYPD Homicide isn't up to solving this tricky case, especially when he appears ready to accept the confession of an obviously innocent young man. Red herrings as well as penguins abound. Miss Withers has a number of questions that need answers before she can reel in the real murderer: Who did Lester's wife meet behind the stairs? What did the pickpocket see? Who was man in the fedora? And just how did Miss Wither's hatpin turn into a lethal weapon? First published in 1931, The Penguin Pool Murder was as big a hit with readers as it was with moviegoers when it was filmed the following year starring Edna May Oliver as Miss Withers and James Gleason as Inspector Piper. . 1st Prtg. Pictorial Wrappers. Fine/No Jacket. Trade Paperback.