Palmer, Stuart - The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligan (1941)
My favorite Palmer novel so far is The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligan. This book has many solid virtues: an ingenious twist in its mystery plot, although parts of the solution are uninspired; some pleasant comedy; good sleuthing by his well characterized detectives; and an interesting background depicting the Hollywood studios of its era. It makes pleasant reading, as long as you are not expecting a great classic along the lines of The Three Coffins or Roger Ackroyd.
It shares some features with earlier Palmer novels. The central murder is another of Palmer's howdunits, a bit closer to the one in Murder On Wheels, than the elaborate stabbing in The Puzzle of the Blue Banderilla. Here, however, it is hardly an impossible crime, and it has the least elaborate and inventive solution of any of these three books.
The book is notable for not just one, but two Strange Person subplots. The subplot about Buster recalls a bit the tale of Julio Mendez in The Puzzle of the Blue Banderilla. Both subplots in turn have a slightly more distant relationship with the brothers in Murder On Wheels. The subplot about Derek Laval in The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligan is also related to the brothers in Murder On Wheels. All of these are some of the most important Stange Person subplots in Palmer's novels. All three novels thus show Palmer's construction around a common architectural plan, with a central howdunit murder, supported and flanked by similar Strange Person subplots. All of the details of the murders and subplots are different in each book, however.
Mike Grost
Hildegarde Withers is called in by Mammoth Studios as a consultant on their latest picture about the Lizzie Borden legend. Much fun is had with Hollywood's interpretation of the story, but in the meantime one of the writers is found dead of a broken neck. The police regard it as an accident, but Miss Withers is not so sure, and she pours out her suspicions in a letter to Inspector Piper. When two more people die in a car crash, including -- apparently -- Miss Withers herself, Piper hotfoots it across the country to reopen the case. But one more death takes place before Piper and the resurrected Hildegarde manage to pin down the murder.
The story moves along nicely and the humour is restrained. Hollywood stereotypes are dusted down for another outing and there is some genuine pathos towards the end of the book. But it's very disappointing to have a mysterious murder method bruited throughout the book and then explained so simply at the end.
Jon.
See also http://at-scene-of-crime.blogspot.com/2011/06/adventure-of-petrified-prankster.html
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