Hildegarde Withers Mystery Collection

The body of unscrupulous stockbroker Gerald Parker suddenly appears in the penguin tank at the aquarium. Naturally, suspicion falls on his wife and her boyfriend, who were present. Inspector Piper investigates with the unsolicited aid of teacher Hildegard Withers, a witness who's taken an interest in the case; Piper develops a grudging respect for Miss Withers' acumen (and sharp tongue), as they search among the red herrings for the aquarium killer...

There are plenty of guilty secrets at the school where Hildegarde Withers teaches. When she finds the body of the pretty music teacher, she calls in her old friend Inspector Piper, who promptly arrests the obvious suspect. Clues multiply and everyone looks suspicious as Piper and Miss Withers continue their battle of the sexes.

On vacation, schoolteacher/detective Miss Withers flies to Catalina Island; on landing, a passenger is found mysteriously dead. With local authorities unwilling to make waves over a natural (they hope) death, Miss Withers interests her old friend Inspector Piper in the case; for reasons of his own, he flies out to take over the investigation. He should know better than to try taking over from Miss Withers...

When the body of Violet Feverel is discovered on the Central Park bridle path, Inspector Oscar Piper is about to declare her death accidental from a thrown horse, until his friend and amateur detective Hildegarde Withers locates the horse and discovers blood on the horse. The coroner deems it a murder when the cause of death is shown to be by a blunt instrument on the victim's head. The suspects include Violet's ex-husband, Don Gregg, who she jailed for nonpayment of alimony, but who was just released by a forged court order; Latigo Wells, the manager of Violet's stables and who had an argument with her that morning; and Eddie Fry, who had quarreled with Violet over his seeing her sister, Barbara Foley, and who was about to elope with Barbara. At Don's Long Island home, Hildegarde and Oscar meet his sickly father, Patrick, the caretaker, Chris Thomas, and his crippled son, Joey. After Patrick is murdered, Hildegarde snoops around and discovers clues which pinpoint the murderer, who is out to kill her.

John Carter just had one of those days. First he had an argument with a mysterious Frenchman. Then Alice wants him to pick her up at the park after she has a fight with Robert over him. So Carter takes the roadster just as Marie and Joe were getting ready to leave. But Kendall, the butler, follows the roadster as he thinks it is Joe and his girl Marie. So when Carter picks up Alice and goes out in the country to park - he is shot dead. But the next day, he is found dead in the library at home. The investigation may be run by Inspector Piper, but most of the snooping is done by Hildegarde. The Sultan's Emerald, and a picture of the Cellini Cup, may be the clue leading to Carter's killer.

Police Inspector Oscar Piper and Hildegared Withers attend the opening night of a Broadway play in New York City, and the show's press agent is murdered before the curtain goes up. But the show must go on and while Piper is busily investigating the killing while the play goes on, the play's librettist is shot. Piper and Withers are in and out of dressing rooms, in audience cubicles belonging to the producer and press agent, and in the basement storeroom, and far stage left and right working on finding the killer before the curtain drops.