The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligan

Schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers is taking a well-earned holiday in Hollywood, when she is surprised to be offered a job as a production expert on a new picture about Lizzie Borden (she is worried the producer might imagine she was a contemporary of Miss Borden's). No sooner has she settled into her new office than the writer in the office next to her dies mysteriously, apparently having broken his neck. Naturally, Miss Withers starts to investigate, and it seems that the murderer is intent on making her his next victim, much to the dismay of Hildegarde's old friend Inspector Piper of the New York police. This is another delightful and funny murder mystery, with an intriguing plot and some very colourful characters, especially the eccentric movie producer Thorwald L. Nincom, who is intent on finding the perfect Lizzie Borden, and quite unhampered by any question of historical accuracy in his picture. Miss Withers is more succesful at solving murders than at persuading Mr Nincom that Shirley Temple would not make a great Lizzie Borden. This is possibly the funnist Miss Withers story of all.