A unique collection of the finest Golden Age mysteries – puzzling whodunnits that have entertained and delighted readers for centuries.With Edgar Award-winning Otto Penzler as guide, delve into an irresistible collection of the finest Golden Age American whodunits, including household names and master storytellers, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ellery Queen and Mary Roberts Rinehart, as well as

Miss Withers .investigates a man who appears to have hanged himself while driving.As snow falls on the steps of the New York Public Library;a line of cars moves sluggishly down Fifth Avenue. Oblivious to the traffic, a blue Chrysler roadster tears down the street, hops the curb, and slams to a halt. The car is empty, its driver thrown half a block back. He is stone dead, his cigarette still burning, and a noose tied tight around his neck. First on the scene...

His Honor finds a public-spirited corpse; the school-ma’am detective finds a murderer; and Inspector Piper discovers what was wrong with the four Fates, the beautiful marble hussy, and the nice young man with the beard. A Miss Hildegarde Withers Mystery!

Miss Withers has nine days to save a press agent from death row.On a steamy day on Staten Island, a speeding car tears past a couple of beat cops and smashes into a delivery truck. In the front seat is Andy Rowan, pale and unconscious. In the back is a blonde -- beautiful, naked, and dead. She was an aspiring Miss America, minted in the wilds of Brooklyn, and he was the press agent who wanted to make her a star. Now she will never walk a runway again. Police, judge...

In the heat of a Central American summer, Miss Withers investigates murder on the Mexico Express.Oscar Piper doesn't belong on Mexican trains. A New York City detective, he's in the Dominican Republic as part of an international delegation come to cut the ribbon on a new transcontinental highway. This grants him the honor of a trip to Mexico City on the hottest, dustiest train in North America -- a crowded slow coach that's about to become a crime scene. The alderm...

On vacation in California, Miss Withers discovers that a twenty-minute plane ride is long enough for murder.Because of the fog, the man in the brown suit arrives five minutes late for the ferry to Catalina Island. If he wishes to reach his destination today, his only option is the Dragonfly, a twelve-seat prop plane that makes up in speed what it lacks in comfort. The ride is bumpy, and all of the passengers -- including a honeymooning couple, a film produ...

To clear a veteran's name, .Miss Withers.investigates a society murder.The war in Europe is over, and America's fighting men are coming home. Lieutenant Pat Montague spent the war dreaming of a return to his beloved: society princess Helen Abbott. But when Uncle Sam finally lets him go, Pat finds that Helen has become Mrs. Huntley Cairns, and he has nothing to return to at all. He goes to see Helen at the Cairns mansion, only to stumble upon his riv...

To rescue a lost flower child, Miss Withers must learn to think like a hippie.During a six-week college break, Lenore Gregory does what all the young girls are doing in the winter of 1969: She heads to Greenwich Village to protest the Vietnam War, painting flowers on her Volkswagen. And just as she's starting to fit in, she disappears, becoming yet another missing hippie -- and a problem for Detective Oscar Piper of the New York Police Department. Lenore's last kno...

A newspaperman investigates the strange case of a murdered society clown.Howie Rook does not care for the police. After a long career in newspapers, he has seen too many cases loused up by unimaginative detectives to have any faith in by-the-book investigation. Recently retired, he spends his leisure hours writing letters to the editor regarding police stupidity. He's so good at pointing out the department's screw-ups that it has decided to reach out to him. They h...

On a gloomy old California estate, the Cameron heirs confront greed, madness, and murder.In the heyday of silent cinema, Cameron Heights was billed as the 'California Wonder Town.' A sprawling development of lavish bungalows, its streets were named after film stars, its houses decorated with Hollywood finery. Fifteen years later, it's a ghost town, and the spirit who rules over it is more disturbing than any horror that has ever haunted the silver screen. Elderly e...

A comedian is dead, a witness is missing, and only Miss Withers can set things right.In comedy, timing is everything. If Tony Fagan were a better comic, perhaps he would've known when to keep his mouth shut. After weeks of jokes at the expense of businessman Winston H. 'Junior' Gault, the sponsor of Fagan's television show, Fagan is found with his head bashed in, and Gault is charged with the murder. The case seems open and shut, but Gault has the money to buy hims...

A violent man is killed in a hit and run, and his wife is accused of the crime.In the inky Los Angeles twilight, a man takes his dog for a walk. They are crossing the street when a station wagon comes charging around the curb, crashing into man and beast. Both are killed. The dog might have been innocent, but the man had it coming. It only takes a day for the district attorney to accuse the dead man's wife of the crime. Deirdre Charteris, a former starlet who has l...