The Cases of Hildegarde Withers (45 page)

*
Helen McCloy,
Two-Thirds of a Ghost
: Amos Cottle was a valuable property—a first-rate novelist who produced four best sellers in four years. He had to be protected. From himself...and from his wife. When she left, so did Amos’s problems. But the very night Vera returned was the night Amos had to have a drink. It was too bad he never lived to sober up.

*
Dorothy S. Davis, The
Judas Cat
: A strange victim—Hillside had always dismissed 92-year-old Andy Mattson as simply a strange old codger—a name parents used to scare their kids into behaving. Chief Waterman spoke for the whole town when he said: “What’s the use of risking your neck when he was going to kick off any day?” But in this seemingly respectable town there was someone who couldn’t wait—a fear-crazed killer whose guilt drove him to
murder
!

Craig Rice,
The Big Midget Murders
: The Big Midget is the hit of the show in Jake Justus’s night club, until someone puts an abrupt end to the Midget. John J. Malone finds all the answers with the energetic and hilarious assistance of Jake Justus and the beautiful Helene.

Craig Rice,
The Fourth Postman
: “Mass murder of postmen in a posh Chicago suburb interests lawyer Malone, Jake and Helene Justus, and other well-remembered Riceomaniacs. Plot and people as wacky as ever...plenty of comedy and much intriguing sleuthing. Verdict: Fun!”—The
Saturday Review

*
Kelley Roos,
The Blonde Died Danci
n
g
: “The Kelley Roos team, specialists in the difficult blending of comedy and murder, have turned out a little honey in this opus. …Perfectly sound plot, narration crisp and really funny, general effect thoroughly engaging. Couldn’t be better in its field.”—The
San Francisco Chronicle

*
Mignon G. Eberhart,
Five Passengers from Lisbon
: Shortly after the end of the war, an American hospital ship rescues passengers and crew from a sinking Argentina-bound freighter. It’s soon discovered that one of the group has been murdered, apparently by one of his own companions. After the second of the group is found dead, fear spreads throughout the ship, as do rumors that Nazi diehards lie among the rescued.

Richard Lockridge & Geo
r
ge Estabrooks,
Death in the Mind
: Evans’ “adventures while trying to discover how and by whom this plot has been carried out make a thrilling, if incredible, tale. However, Lockridge’s collaborator, Prof. Estabrooks of Colgate University, offers documentary evidence that hypnotism could be used in this way; and who are we to argue this point with a Professor of Psychology?”—The
New York Times

*
Frances & Richard Lockridge,
Th
e
Dishonest Murderer
: “Well plotted, smooth, and urbane. It has good suspense, and the delineation of the strengths and frailties of the human beings involved in the crime is interesting.”—The
New York Times

Darwin & Hildegarde Teilhet,
The Feather Cloak Murders
: “Shivery silent death, entrancing island atmosphere, odd native lore, and a sweet puzzle. Grand!”—The
Saturday Review
. The Baron is offered one thousand dollars to escort Mr. Hiroshita, a wealthy Japanese importer, and a valuable jade relic to Hawaii. He naturally accepts, after all, what could go wrong?

Darwin & Hildegarde Teilhet,
The Talking Sparrow Murders
: “No true mystery fan can afford to pass this story by. It is one of the best in a season that has brought us more than a few that are really worth while.”—Isaac Anderson, The
New York Times