Hildegarde Withers is a fictional character, an amateur crime-solver, who has appeared in several novels, short stories and films. She was created by American mystery author Stuart Palmer (1905–1968). Character Miss Withers "whom the census enumerator had recently listed as 'spinster, born Boston, age thirty-nine, occupation school teacher'" becomes an amateur sleuth in the first book of the series. Her adventures are usually comic but are nevertheless straightforward mysteries. She is a partial variation on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. "A lean, angular spinster lady, her unusual hats and the black cotton umbrella she carries are her trademark. ... Hildegarde collects tropical fish, abhors alcohol and tobacco, and appears to have an irritable disposition. However, she is a romantic at heart and will extend herself to help young lovers." She collaborates, and frequently butts heads, with Inspector Oscar Piper, a high-ranking homicide detective in the New York Police Department. Edna May Oliver starred in the first three screen adaptations, produced by RKO Radio Pictures, and is considered by fans of the film series the definitive Miss Withers. When Oliver left RKO in 1935 to sign with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, RKO attempted to continue the series with Helen Broderick and then ZaSu Pitts, but Oliver's presence was sorely missed and the films were poorly received. Author Palmer approved of Oliver's characterization so much that he gave the actress a mention in his Hollywood-based Withers novel The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligan. Stuart Palmer collaborated with fellow mystery writer Craig Rice on several short stories that teamed Hildegarde Withers with Rice's lawyer-sleuth John J. Malone. This collaboration led to a Hollywood film, but due to contractual problems, Withers's character wound up being omitted from the movie. She was replaced by a feisty widow known as "Mrs. O'Malley". The film, a comic mystery released in 1950 as Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone, starred James Whitmore and Marjorie Main as the title characters. In 1972, ABC made a Withers television movie with Eve Arden as Withers and James Gregory as Piper. The movie was well-received but there weren't any sequels. Novels The Penguin Pool Murder (1931) Murder on Wheels (1932) Murder on the Blackboard (1932) The Puzzle of the Pepper Tree (1933) The Puzzle of the Silver Persian (1934) The Puzzle of the Red Stallion (1935) [also published as "The Puzzle of the Briar Pipe"] The Puzzle of the Blue Banderilla (1937) The Puzzle of the Happy