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Hildegarde Withers #13
Cold Poison
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.
- GenresMystery
197 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1954
46 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Stuart Palmer
91 books31 followersPseudonyms Theodore Orchards, Jay Stewart
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.
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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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 19, 2015
Miss Hildegarde Withers, retired school teacher and sometime amateur sleuth, has retired to the glittering west coast--land of movie stars, film moguls, and cartoon studios. She's just thinking how boring life is with Inspector Piper on the opposite side of the country and no murders to solve.
But then something nasty starts happening at one of Hollywood's most renowned cartoon studios. Someone has dipped their brush in poison and started sending threatening notes accompanied by violent doodles of the star of the studio--Peter Penguin--with a noose around his neck. It looks like somebody has more than comic mayhem on their mind.
The studio's management don't want the notoriety that would follow an investigation by the local police, so when the head man (who is on business in New York) runs into Inspector Piper and tells his story, Piper suggests Miss Withers as a quiet substitute. The company wants to blame Larry Ree, a cartoonist with a unique sense of humor who has played many practical jokes in the past. But Miss Withers suspects that something more than a warped sense of humor is at work. She's proved right when Reed is proved innocent in a most definite way--he winds up dead.
The police want to call the death an accident--death by poison ivy--saying that Reed must have been extra-sensitive to the plant. But how did Reed come into contact with the ivy in the studio. Miss Withers sets to work proving not only that murder has been done, but finding the means to introduce a poison ivy concentrate to the inmates of the cartoon studio.
Cold Poison (1954) is Stuart Palmer's last novel featuring that intrepid sleuthing schoolmarm Miss Withers. He gives us a lively tale and an interesting backdrop for the murder and mayhem with some fairly well-drawn stock characters. The plot is a bit disappointing. Miss Withers (and Piper, who comes flying in to help when a possible connection is found to one of his cases) dig up lots of backstory on the characters with clues pointing...where, exactly? It's somewhat difficult to find the few bits of real evidence amongst the chaff.
The murder method is clever...and better clued than motive and perpetrator. Overall, a decent mystery--best enjoyed for the setting and characters than for puzzle plot.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
But then something nasty starts happening at one of Hollywood's most renowned cartoon studios. Someone has dipped their brush in poison and started sending threatening notes accompanied by violent doodles of the star of the studio--Peter Penguin--with a noose around his neck. It looks like somebody has more than comic mayhem on their mind.
The studio's management don't want the notoriety that would follow an investigation by the local police, so when the head man (who is on business in New York) runs into Inspector Piper and tells his story, Piper suggests Miss Withers as a quiet substitute. The company wants to blame Larry Ree, a cartoonist with a unique sense of humor who has played many practical jokes in the past. But Miss Withers suspects that something more than a warped sense of humor is at work. She's proved right when Reed is proved innocent in a most definite way--he winds up dead.
The police want to call the death an accident--death by poison ivy--saying that Reed must have been extra-sensitive to the plant. But how did Reed come into contact with the ivy in the studio. Miss Withers sets to work proving not only that murder has been done, but finding the means to introduce a poison ivy concentrate to the inmates of the cartoon studio.
Cold Poison (1954) is Stuart Palmer's last novel featuring that intrepid sleuthing schoolmarm Miss Withers. He gives us a lively tale and an interesting backdrop for the murder and mayhem with some fairly well-drawn stock characters. The plot is a bit disappointing. Miss Withers (and Piper, who comes flying in to help when a possible connection is found to one of his cases) dig up lots of backstory on the characters with clues pointing...where, exactly? It's somewhat difficult to find the few bits of real evidence amongst the chaff.
The murder method is clever...and better clued than motive and perpetrator. Overall, a decent mystery--best enjoyed for the setting and characters than for puzzle plot.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
August 25, 2023
"Happy Hooligans" redux.
It's 1954 and Stuart Palmer hasn't produced one of his popular Miss Withers mysteries in three years. Maybe his fans are badgering him. Maybe his publisher is threatening to take back the generous book advance he chiseled out of them several years ago. Maybe over-due alimony to his ex-wives is piling up. Maybe the price of liquor has gone up again. Writing is hard work, dammit.
Whatever his motivation, Palmer bellied up to his typewriter and produced Miss Withers mystery #13. To save time and energy, he used the plot of #8, "The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligans" in which Hildegarde Withers investigates a murder in a Hollywood studio.
Now she's retired to California, supposedly for her asthma. Someone has been sending threatening notes to employees of an independent cartoon studio and the staff who create the art and music and dialogue that bring Peter Penguin and his pals alive are nervous. The studio head is in New York and he meets up with Inspector Oscar Piper of the NYPD Homicide Department.
There's been no homicide (yet) but Inspector Piper suggests that the studio hire retired teacher/amateur snoop Miss Hildegarde Withers to poke her long nose into the matter. He's sure it's a tempest in a teapot, but it will give his old sparring partner a chance to earn a few bucks.
The studio sneaks in Miss Withers under the pretense that her large poodle Tally has been hired to pose for pictures for a new line of cartoons. Tally poses happily and eats at the studio canteen even more happily. And Miss Withers gets to know the staff and they're even loonier than the cartoon characters they create.
Her suggestion that the "death notes" are just a practical joke is met with a long list of practical jokes that the staff have played on each other. The most offensive joker of all is Larry Reed and his brilliance as an artist is all that keeps him from being fired. All of the victims of his jokes claim to be good sports, but Reed had a nasty habit of hitting the wrong nerves. Worse, he seems to know everyone's darkest secrets.
Then there's a death, but it's an accident - a rare case of severe reaction to poison ivy. RIP Larry Reed. Now all the people who wanted to kill him won't have a chance.
Of course, there are no accidents in mystery novels, only murders. Miss Withers pounces on the method of death and remembers a similar case in New York several years ago. So (as in "Happy Hooligans") Inspector Piper flies out to L.A. to try to solve two cases at the same time.
Should he be suspicious of the oddly appealing girl artist who's had affairs with most of the staff but who's now fixated on a down-and-out musician? Or the innocent-seeming young man who's still carrying a torch for her? Or the sexy secretary who used to be married to Larry Reed? Or the middle-aged music director whose wife was caught in a Soviet country when the Iron Curtain came down? Or background artist Rollo Bayles, who wants desperately to be a ladies man but lacks the looks or personality?
Heck, after a while, even the elderly janitor who used to be a studio big-shot before Hollywood passed him by starts looking suspicious. As a long-time screen writer, Palmer was quite aware that studio co-workers almost never kill each other, but the pressure is there and any one of them COULD have fallen over the edge and become a homicidal maniac.
Hildy and Oscar work together and separately; with the local police and without them. Nothing works until Hildy decides to start a rumor that puts herself squarely in the target hairs. Will she be the next victim of the Cold Poisoner?
I REALLY prefer Miss Withers in New York where she and Inspector Piper seem to belong. I don't care about her asthma and I can't imagine other readers do, either. Still, Palmer was a busy man and I do understand the temptation to use the setting he'd lived and worked in for decades (Hollywood movie studios) and the eccentric characters they attract.
It's not his best, but it has some good parts. The old crime-solvers nab a murderer who's killed on both coasts, closing two cases with one arrest. The tragedy is that Tally never gets to star in that cartoon series. He's a natural.
It's 1954 and Stuart Palmer hasn't produced one of his popular Miss Withers mysteries in three years. Maybe his fans are badgering him. Maybe his publisher is threatening to take back the generous book advance he chiseled out of them several years ago. Maybe over-due alimony to his ex-wives is piling up. Maybe the price of liquor has gone up again. Writing is hard work, dammit.
Whatever his motivation, Palmer bellied up to his typewriter and produced Miss Withers mystery #13. To save time and energy, he used the plot of #8, "The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligans" in which Hildegarde Withers investigates a murder in a Hollywood studio.
Now she's retired to California, supposedly for her asthma. Someone has been sending threatening notes to employees of an independent cartoon studio and the staff who create the art and music and dialogue that bring Peter Penguin and his pals alive are nervous. The studio head is in New York and he meets up with Inspector Oscar Piper of the NYPD Homicide Department.
There's been no homicide (yet) but Inspector Piper suggests that the studio hire retired teacher/amateur snoop Miss Hildegarde Withers to poke her long nose into the matter. He's sure it's a tempest in a teapot, but it will give his old sparring partner a chance to earn a few bucks.
The studio sneaks in Miss Withers under the pretense that her large poodle Tally has been hired to pose for pictures for a new line of cartoons. Tally poses happily and eats at the studio canteen even more happily. And Miss Withers gets to know the staff and they're even loonier than the cartoon characters they create.
Her suggestion that the "death notes" are just a practical joke is met with a long list of practical jokes that the staff have played on each other. The most offensive joker of all is Larry Reed and his brilliance as an artist is all that keeps him from being fired. All of the victims of his jokes claim to be good sports, but Reed had a nasty habit of hitting the wrong nerves. Worse, he seems to know everyone's darkest secrets.
Then there's a death, but it's an accident - a rare case of severe reaction to poison ivy. RIP Larry Reed. Now all the people who wanted to kill him won't have a chance.
Of course, there are no accidents in mystery novels, only murders. Miss Withers pounces on the method of death and remembers a similar case in New York several years ago. So (as in "Happy Hooligans") Inspector Piper flies out to L.A. to try to solve two cases at the same time.
Should he be suspicious of the oddly appealing girl artist who's had affairs with most of the staff but who's now fixated on a down-and-out musician? Or the innocent-seeming young man who's still carrying a torch for her? Or the sexy secretary who used to be married to Larry Reed? Or the middle-aged music director whose wife was caught in a Soviet country when the Iron Curtain came down? Or background artist Rollo Bayles, who wants desperately to be a ladies man but lacks the looks or personality?
Heck, after a while, even the elderly janitor who used to be a studio big-shot before Hollywood passed him by starts looking suspicious. As a long-time screen writer, Palmer was quite aware that studio co-workers almost never kill each other, but the pressure is there and any one of them COULD have fallen over the edge and become a homicidal maniac.
Hildy and Oscar work together and separately; with the local police and without them. Nothing works until Hildy decides to start a rumor that puts herself squarely in the target hairs. Will she be the next victim of the Cold Poisoner?
I REALLY prefer Miss Withers in New York where she and Inspector Piper seem to belong. I don't care about her asthma and I can't imagine other readers do, either. Still, Palmer was a busy man and I do understand the temptation to use the setting he'd lived and worked in for decades (Hollywood movie studios) and the eccentric characters they attract.
It's not his best, but it has some good parts. The old crime-solvers nab a murderer who's killed on both coasts, closing two cases with one arrest. The tragedy is that Tally never gets to star in that cartoon series. He's a natural.
January 9, 2023
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?
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?
December 10, 2016
This book may have not been published until 1954, but it's as delightful as the Hildegarde Withers movies from the 1930's starring Edna May Oliver . I kept picturing Edna as Hildegarde and the adorable actor James Gleason as Inspector Oscar Piper. Stuart Palmer was a wonderful writer with a great comic slant. Throughout the book, I was looking up references from before I was born - actors I didn't know, old expressions I'd only heard my grandmother say, and references to historical events that have faded with time. All of these things added to my reading enjoyment and to the book's charm. The characters were interesting and the mystery was unusual. And the best part was that I chose the wrong killer! Find a copy of this book to add to your library as soon as possible!
June 3, 2022
Two and a half stars: A later entry in the Hildegarde Withers series, this is not as satisfying as many of the older ones. While reading I kept thinking it was waaayy too drawn out (then I noticed it is a longer version of a story Palmer wrote called "A Valentine for the Victim.")
The setting -- a cartoon studio -- is interesting, but it does go on a bit too long (and it's less than 150 pages!), although the scene where the killer is unmasked was pretty interesting. An okay read for fans of the series.
The setting -- a cartoon studio -- is interesting, but it does go on a bit too long (and it's less than 150 pages!), although the scene where the killer is unmasked was pretty interesting. An okay read for fans of the series.
February 26, 2018
I didn't realize this book was written in 1954 until I was a chapter or so into it and noticed the absence of all things technological. What was especially interesting was a glimpse of Los Angeles studio life then, and how things have not changed so much in terms of the culture.
Hildegarde Withers is an entertaining sleuth, and by this episode she'd been around about 20 years. Probably I won't make this series a priority, but it was a fun read and one that was well plotted and thought out.
Hildegarde Withers is an entertaining sleuth, and by this episode she'd been around about 20 years. Probably I won't make this series a priority, but it was a fun read and one that was well plotted and thought out.
January 13, 2023
"Algunas veces puedo creer hasta cinco cosas imposibles antes de desayunar, pero no ahora".
Última novela que leo de la saga de Hildegarde Withers (no las leí todas porque no encontré la saga completa, aunque leí unas diez).
En general, aunque a veces las soluciones a los misterios son muy rebuscadas, su sentido del humor y el personaje de Hildegarde como una Miss Marple a lo americano hace que sea una saga muy recomendable.
Última novela que leo de la saga de Hildegarde Withers (no las leí todas porque no encontré la saga completa, aunque leí unas diez).
En general, aunque a veces las soluciones a los misterios son muy rebuscadas, su sentido del humor y el personaje de Hildegarde como una Miss Marple a lo americano hace que sea una saga muy recomendable.
June 14, 2018
What a wonderful character is Hildegarde!
This is. my first encounter with Hildegarde Withers and I loved it! She is a charmingly bitter old spinster with a sharp mind. The mystery was fun and engaging. Be aware, these books were written many years ago, probably the 30's and 40's but are well-written and still read well today.
This is. my first encounter with Hildegarde Withers and I loved it! She is a charmingly bitter old spinster with a sharp mind. The mystery was fun and engaging. Be aware, these books were written many years ago, probably the 30's and 40's but are well-written and still read well today.
December 14, 2022
I miss Oscar
I am delighted that Hildegard and Tally have a nice home in LA but I miss Oscar. He flew out, as invariably happens, Hildegard’s case and Oscar’s overlap, but it isn’t the same. She is a NYC ducky out of water. I still think the final leap to solution was a bit much, and there was a lot of swimming. But it is the second to last book so…
I am delighted that Hildegard and Tally have a nice home in LA but I miss Oscar. He flew out, as invariably happens, Hildegard’s case and Oscar’s overlap, but it isn’t the same. She is a NYC ducky out of water. I still think the final leap to solution was a bit much, and there was a lot of swimming. But it is the second to last book so…
March 15, 2019
Another solid mystery
Miss Withers is on the west coast, and gets a paying client to look into a series of poisoned pen Valentine notes. Oscar Piper comes out to help with the case.
Miss Withers is on the west coast, and gets a paying client to look into a series of poisoned pen Valentine notes. Oscar Piper comes out to help with the case.
February 21, 2018
Good read
The connection to 1940’s Hollywood was a fun hook. I enjoyed Hildegard’s no nonsense approach. Worth spending a few hours to get lost in Wither’s world.
The connection to 1940’s Hollywood was a fun hook. I enjoyed Hildegard’s no nonsense approach. Worth spending a few hours to get lost in Wither’s world.
June 27, 2023
Having seen Stuart Palmer on an episode of You Bet Your Life, I wanted to give him a try. What a disappointment.
May 3, 2025
A unique method of murder. Not sure if the story was "fair play" or not.
April 23, 2020
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