Charles Stuart Palmer (1905-1968) wrote 14 books and multiple short stories about retired schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers and Inspector Oscar Piper of the New York Police Department, starting in 1931. Withers turned out to be quite popular with the public and several of the stories were turned into films. The late much-lamented Rue Morgue Press reissued some of the early titles, including The Puzzle of the Blue Banderilla (Doubleday, Doran, 1937; Rue Morgue, 2004) which is the seventh. The introduction is a thoughtful biography of Palmer and analysis of his work, written by Tom and Enid Schantz, owners of Rue Morgue.
The story itself breaks away from the format established by the previous books by taking the pair to Mexico, where Piper has no influence or standing. He is part of a New York City delegation to Mexico, traveling by train. When a Customs inspector examines the luggage of the New York alderman’s wife, he opens a flask of perfume to verify its contents and promptly dies of cyanide poisoning. She denies owning the bottle or knowing anything about it. Piper believes she will be arrested once they arrive in Mexico City but he has some loyalty to the alderman, who is convinced someone is trying to kill his wife, so Piper tries his best to identify an alternate culprit. He pulls Withers in by sending her telegrams requesting that she investigate the backgrounds of various passengers. Her interfering tendencies take over and she joins him in Mexico, where another murder takes place at the bullfights.
I was interested to see that this book breaks an often-used trope of Golden Age crime fiction. Frequently the investigator in a Golden Age mystery gives the malefactor the option of committing suicide to avoid the public shame of arrest and trial. That choice is offered here but unexpectedly declined, adding a few more scenes to the book.
The scenes at a bullfight are described in enough graphic detail that they may upset some readers.