The natural behavior of a patient cat named Tobermory provides schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers with a critical clue to a particularly nasty murder in "The Puzzle of the Silver Persian," by Stuart Palmer. It's reviewed this week on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the full review here.
In this 1934 entry in the popular series, Hildy Withers travels to England - but the voyage is spoiled by the disappearance of one passenger, followed by what could be a suicide or murder. When the ship arrives in England and everyone disembarks, the mysterious deaths continue, until Hildy finally unravels the plot while visiting a castle in Cornwall.
That's where Tobermory, a silver Persian cat, gets into the act. And by observing him, Hildy is put on the right track to the solution. It's a fine entry in what was an extremely popular series, with plenty of clues for the observant reader and a fair amount of humor along the way.
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