Murder on Wheels (1932) by Stuart Palmer #20BOS26

 

🚘 The second book in a series always make me apprehensive; will it be better from, or at least the same as, the first? Will the writer improve their writing or will it be a flop? I am glad that Stuart Palmer did the first with the Hildegarde Withers series. Like the first one, The Penguin Pool Murder, this book also has an unusual kind of murder for Hildegarde and Inspector Piper to investigate. Hildegarde, still with her sharp notice of small details, and her invaluable umbrella, chose to run her own investigation separated from Piper's. This cute pair of detective-amateur-sleuth decided to make it a competition!

🚘 One winter afternoon, the traffic officer near Fifth Avenue found, first a driverless Chrysler roadster on the street, then a body of a man flopped down the same street, apparently from the sky, with a noose around his neck. Piper and Hildegarde took to investigate the case, as soon as they learned that it was most certainly not a suicide. The victim is identified as Lawrence "Laurie" Stait, who came from a highly respectable family (an old money of New York), and who has lived in a big house with his identical twin brother Lewis, his domineering eccentric grandmother, his dotty aunt, a nerdy cousin Hubert, and half a dozen servants. Perfectly identical as Laurie was to Lew in appearance, they were completely different in character. Laurie was always acknowledged as the space goat of the family - always befriend dubious characters - while Lew is the dependable and sweet one. Hence, it's not a surprise to anyone, that someone has murdered him.

🚘 The almost impossible murder was the first striking point of this book for me. An eyewitness - a taxi driver - told Piper and Hildegarde an astonishing story of the way the body "appeared" on the street. It was first "rise right up out of the seat (of the car)," into the air, then fly down the street, backwards! Had the taxi driver been drunk and hallucinating? Or was it the true account of Laurie's tragic demise? How was it possibly done, then? And most importantly who had motive and who had no alibi when the murder happened? Was it the "cowboy" Keeley, whose sister had had an affair with Laurie last summer? The noose (or what they called lariat) was almost identical with the one he always use for his shows. Or was it one of the family? The aunt and cousin Hubert had a strong alibi - two tickets of the opera - but Lew's alibi was from the flirty maid Gretchen. And what about the torn opera ticket that Hildegarde and Piper found outside the house in the snow? Did it mean that someone else has gone to the theatre when they were supposed to be at home? 🚘 I loved this book for its perfect balance between: a). the murder plot - yes, it's rather complicated and I doubted if it is plausible in real life - but it's fantastic as a mystery novel; I also loved the plot twist, though not unsuspected (by me at least); b). the often hilarious encounters of Hildegarde and Piper, not mentioning the appearance of Mrs. Stait's (the grandmother) parrot; the ending scene between the dog and the parrot is the perfect one to end this kind of murder mystery!; and lastly c). Hildegarde and Piper's dynamic relationship, halfway between partner-in-crime and affectionate/romantic-interest. You'd wonder all the time: would they, or would they not...? And I half suspect Palmer would keep it that way for the rest of the series, because if the scale tipped a little more to one side, the balance would be ruined, and the series would not be as perfect as it is.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

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20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel