Helen Broderick takes over as Stuart Palmer’s sleuth, Hildegarde Withers, here helping Inspector Piper (James Gleason) — with some good-natured rivalry, too — solve the murder of a woman who met her doom while taking an early-morning ride. Suspects abound, including an ex-husband, jailed for non-support but sprung the night before the killing, the ex-husband’s father, the groom with whom the woman was conducting an affair, her disillusioned fiancé, and more, but I have to say that I was indeed surprised by the resolution of the mystery. Broderick is not as good as Edna May Oliver in the role, of course, but she’s a skilled enough professional to carry it off, and the movie is aided by the continued presence of James Gleason.

  Recommended. Otto finds this one pleasing enough to relax.

Movie 26 for 2021.