Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unhappy Hooligan | 1956 | Stuart Palmer | Buy |
| 2 | Rook Takes Knight | 1968 | Stuart Palmer | Buy |
The Howie Rook Mystery series is a two-book detective series by Stuart Palmer, the American mystery writer famous for his Hildegarde Withers novels. These books feature Howard “Howie” Rook, a middle-aged retired newspaperman with a natural instinct for detective work. Where Palmer’s Withers mysteries leaned on humor and a quirky schoolteacher sleuth, the Rook books put a seasoned reporter at the center of more hard-edged crime puzzles.
The first book, Unhappy Hooligan (1956), opens with a real estate magnate found dead in a locked room, a bullet in his chest and clown makeup on his face. With no suspects or witnesses, only Rook’s nose for a story can crack the case. The second entry, Rook Takes Knight (1968), has Rook investigating a hit-and-run death when the victim’s wife is accused of the crime and he believes she is innocent.
Palmer published the two books more than a decade apart, and Rook Takes Knight came out the same year Palmer died, making it one of his final works. The series is short but offers a solid example of mid-century American detective fiction, with tight plotting and a lead character whose journalistic background gives him a different angle on crime-solving than the typical private eye.