Hildegarde Withers: Final Riddles?

Most of the 15 tales in this superb collection feature Palmer’s best-known creation, Hildegarde Withers, a New York City public school teacher whose acumen rivals Miss Marple’s. In the clever “The Riddle of the Black Spade,” Withers tackles the puzzle of an attorney on a Long Island golf course killed by a massive blow from a golf ball; mystery buffs will note that its original publication in October 1934 was in the same month that Nero Wolfe debuted with a similar plot. Another entertaining display of Withers’s deductive chops, “You Bet Your Life,” includes the real-life host of the game show of that name, Groucho Marx. Sherlockians will relish the pastiches “The Adventure of the Marked Man” and “The Adventure of the Remarkable Worm,” which demonstrate a superior ability to imitate Conan Doyle while enabling Watson to affectionately tweak his know-it-all friend. The creepy “How Lost Was My Father?” tackles the legendary disappearance of a Tennessee farmer in 1880 while in plain view of several witnesses. News that Palmer (1905–1968) probably left enough uncollected stories for a future volume will excite fans of literate, smart mystery fiction. (Nov.)