{"product_id":"the-puzzle-of-the-happy-hooligan-9781613161142","title":"The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligan","description":"\u003cp\u003eHildegarde Withers is just your average school teacher--with above-average skills in the art of deduction. The New Yorker often finds herself investigating crimes led only by her own meddlesome curiosity, though her friends on the NYPD don't mind when she solves their cases for them. After plans for a grand tour of Europe are interrupted by Germany's invasion of Poland, Miss Withers heads to sunny Los Angeles instead, where her vacation finds her working as a technical advisor on the set of a film adaptation of the Lizzie Borden story. The producer has plans for an epic retelling of the historical killer's patricidal spree--plans which are derailed when a screenwriter turns up dead. While the local authorities quickly deem his death accidental, Withers suspects otherwise and calls up a detective back home for advice. The two soon team up to catch a wily killer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt once a pleasantly complex locked room mystery and a hilarious look at the foibles of Hollywood, \u003cem\u003eThe Puzzle of the Happy Hooligan\u003c\/em\u003e finds Palmer, a screenwriter himself, at his most perceptive. Reprinted for the first time in over thirty years, this riotously funny novel shows why Hildegarde Withers was among the most beloved detectives of the Golden Age American mystery novel.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePalmer, Stuart:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - 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 \u003cem\u003eAce of Jades\u003c\/em\u003e, in 1931. It was with his second novel, however, that he established his writing career: \u003cem\u003eThe Penguin Pool Murder\u003c\/em\u003e 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 \u003cem\u003eMiss Withers Regrets\u003c\/em\u003e (1947) and \u003cem\u003eNipped in the Bud\u003c\/em\u003e (1951). A master of intricate plotting, Palmer found success writing for Hollywood, where several of his books, including \u003cem\u003eThe Penguin Pool Murder\u003c\/em\u003e, were filmed by RKO Pictures Inc.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePenzler, Otto:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eOtto Penzler, \u003c\/strong\u003e the creator of American Mystery Classics, is also the founder of the Mysterious Press (1975); Mysterious Press.com (2011), an electronic-book publishing company; and New York City's Mysterious Bookshop (1979). He has won a Raven, the Ellery Queen Award, two Edgars (for the \u003cem\u003eEncyclopedia of Mystery and Detection\u003c\/em\u003e, 1977, and \u003cem\u003eThe Lineup\u003c\/em\u003e, 2010), and lifetime achievement awards from Noircon and \u003cem\u003eThe Strand Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e. He has edited more than 70 anthologies and written extensively about mystery fiction.","brand":"American Mystery Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50360325505298,"sku":"9781613161142","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_1e2f6a9c-7d8e-48f9-8d93-b7509c3ee86c.jpg?v=1728361023","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-puzzle-of-the-happy-hooligan-9781613161142","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}