Stuart Palmer

Stuart Palmer (June 21, 1905 – February 4, 1968) was a mystery novelist and screenwriter. He was most famous for creating the character Hildegarde Withers. In addition, he used the pen names Theodore Orchards and Jay Stewart. for some of his works.

Summary Palmer was born in Baraboo, Wisconsin in 1905. He was reportedly descended from some of the earliest English colonists and held a variety of odd jobs before turning to fiction."

From 1928 to 1931, Palmer was a frequent contributor (sometimes using the pen name Theodore Orchards) to Ghost Stories magazine, writing short stories, essays, and a serialized novel, The Gargoyle's Throat.

"The Adventure of the Remarkable Worm" was a humorous Sherlock Holmes pastiche that was published in Ellery Queen's The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes in 1944. In 1950 another pastiche, "The Adventure of the Marked Man", was published in Australian Women's Weekly; the pastiche takes the detective Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson to the seaside town of Penzance in Cornwall, where they investigate the strange warnings given to Allen Pendarvis and a subsequent attempt on his life. "The two pastiches, one serious and one comic, were written while Palmer was marooned at an army post in Oklahoma, where he was serving as an instructor...."

Stuart Palmer also wrote "The Mystery of David Lang" for Fate Magazine. It wasn't until long after Palmer's death that the affidavits, testifying to the truth of the story and signed by David Lang's daughter and the local justice of the peace, were discovered to be in Palmer's own handwriting (including the signatures).

During WW2, Palmer was a Lieutenant in the 482nd Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army. Palmer served for one year as president of the Mystery Writers of America.