Cold Poison by Stuart Palmer

Murder at a movie studio provides a challenge for Hildegarde Withers, school teacher and amateur detective. She had left New York hoping that the climate of Los Angeles would help her asthma, but now she was getting a bit bored. She was also across the country from her crime solving friend, Inspector Oscar Piper, of the New York Ciry Police Department. Then she received a visit from Ralph Cusak, a production manager for a movie studio which produced animated movies (sort of like Disney). Mr. Cusak wanted to hire her to find out who was sending threatening valentines to members of the studio staff. She was to pretend to be the keeper of her dog, Talleyrand, who was to pose as the model for a new cartoon movie, The Circus Poodle.

Hildegard wanted to get a good start on her new job so early in the morning of the next day, she went to meet Larry Reed at his home. Larry was a cartoonist and was know for his practical jokes which made him seem to be a likely candidate for the valentine sender. She found Larry Reed dead in his bedroom. He had been poisoned with an extract of poison ivy which is a very unusual material to use for murder. Hilda questioned the members of the studio staff, but felt that she could not solve the crime on her own so she called Oscar Piper to travel to the west coast to help her. I was a bit disappointed in this move. I felt that she could have solved it on her own.

Anyway, Hildegarde and Oscar did investigate, and did find the murderer. The final clue which lead to the identity of the killer was something which we have all observed in our cartoon watching days but have probably never consciously noticed.

This is a fun read, but it is a very light weight mystery novel. There are bits of humor along the way, and it is interesting to watch the workings of a cartoon studio in 1954. I am sure that it has all been changed by now.