The Penguin Pool Murder

By Stuart Palmer

Book Overview

In this classic whodunit, crime-solving teacher Hildegarde Withers discovers a dead body while on a trip to the New York Aquarium with her third-grade class.

For the third graders at Jefferson School, a field trip is always a treat. But one day at the New York Aquarium, they get much more excitement than they bargained for. A pickpocket sprints past, stolen purse in hand, and is making his way to the exit when their teacher, the prim Hildegarde Withers, knocks him down with her umbrella.

By the time the police and the security guards finish arguing about what to do with Chicago Lew, he has escaped, and Miss Withers has found something far more interesting: a murdered stockbroker floating in the penguin tank. With the help of Detective Oscar Piper, this no-nonsense spinster embarks on her first of many adventures. The mystery is baffling, the killer dangerous but for a woman who can control a gaggle of noisy third graders, murder isn't frightening at all.

The Penguin Pool Murder is part of the Hildegarde Withers Mysteries series, which also includes Murder on the Blackboard and Murder on Wheels

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1613163975
• ISBN13: 9781613163979
• Release Date: January 2023
• Publisher: Penzler Publishers
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

Friday is Fish-day.

After watching two of the Hildegard Martha Withers films, I decided it was time to read the book. I got out my trusty Kindle and purchased the book along with the Whispersync add-on, which reads and highlights the words as they go. I started with the Penguin Pool as it is the first in the series, and as I said, I had seen the movie. I was surprised to find that the movie pretty much parallels the book. Also, as another advantage, after getting to chapter five, I found a diagram of the scene as you would in a film script. Hildegard, a 39-year-old spinster schoolteacher from Jefferson School, N.Y., was taking her students on a field trip to the Aquarium. “Teacher, dese ducks act so funnily!” “I told you before, Isidore, those are not ducks; they are penguins.” This is a great mystery that has all the elements, as everyone looks guilty and the inspector must sort it out. Hildegard worms her way in to assist. She and Inspector Piper agree. How will they solve this case? Will Hildegard and Piper ever become more than a team?

A strong female sleuth

Hildegarde Withers is a schoolteacher shepherding her lively class of children round the New York Aquarium, where a gruesome murder is found to have been committed. Miss Withers finds herself getting involved with the investigation and clashing with the officer in charge, Inspector Piper. Ths is the first in a series of mysteries starring the strong-minded Miss Withers as amatuer sleuth. Hildegarde Withers is an impressive lady who is always in command of the situation, dealing with a bunch of tough little children stands her in good stead when it comes to dealing with criminals or for that matter with the police. At the end of this first adventure, Miss Withers is apparently about to marry Inspector Piper, but in subsequent volumes she is still a spinster. I suspect that Mr Palmer decided that marriage would cramp her style, and he may be right. Miss Withers is an impressive character, at a time when female detectives in fiction were I think much rarer than they are now, her adventures are very enjoyable to read, good characters and plenty of humorous touches help to make them very entertaining.

An interesting setting with a very interesting sleuth

While the book is a fun read in itself, it is much more enjoyable if you have seen the 1932 film based on it and starring Edna May Oliver as Hildegarde Withers. Having the actress in your mind's eye as you read really brings the story to life. It's definitely one of those "they don't write 'em like that anymore" books.