MISS WITHERS REGRETS ( A Rue Morgue Vintage Mystery) by Palmer, Stuart - 2007

Lyons, Colorado, U.S.A.: Rue Morgue Press, 2007. 1st prtg, (originally published in 1947). A fine, unread copy of the trade paperback. Inspector Piper asks Hildegarde Withers to mind her own business. And so she does. But of course her business is murder. Retired schoolteacher Miss Hildegarde Withers has promised her old friend Oscar Piper that she will stop meddling in police affairs. It looks as if she means it, too, for when Pat Montague's Long Island society friends ask her to help clear the young Anny veteran of the murder of Huntley Cairns, his former sweetheart's husband, Hildegarde instead turns him over to the police. But then she has second thoughts and alternates between investigating suspects, snooping for clues, and studying her tank of tropical fish. Oddly enough, it is the fish-and a little pancake flour-that finally furnish the clues she needs to find the murderer. Hildy is as tart-tongued and delightful as ever in Miss Withers Regrets, and you won't regret that she is once again refusing to mind her own business. First published in 1947, this was the first post-World War II novel to feature Hildy and Oscar, whose exploits delighted readers and moviegoers in the 1930s and 1940s. . 1st Prtg. Pictorial Wrappers. New. Illus. by Pudim, Rob. Trade Paperback.