Murder on a Honeymoon 1935

On a short flight to Catalina Island off the California coast, Roswell T. Forrest Brooks Benedict falls ill, and when he is found dead upon landing, it looks like murder to fellow passenger Hildegarde Withers Edna May Oliver. She struggles to convince local authorities, including Chief of Police Britt Spencer Charters and the coroner Dr. O’Rourke Arthur Hoyt.

To get answers, she calls in her friend, Inspector Oscar Piper James Gleason, who recognizes the dead man as a key witness in a crime syndicate case with a $10,000 price on his head and flies from New York to escort her and shield her from mob retaliation.

Upon arrival, the two butt heads over who among the plane’s passengers is the killer. Withers suspects poisoning — Forrest had been given a drink, a cigarette, and even smelling salts by Withers herself — but before this can be confirmed, the body is stolen. While Piper questions suspects, Withers learns that McArthur Morgan Wallace has registered at the hotel under the flimsy alias of Arthur Mack. When she eavesdrops on his telephone conversation, she discovers that he will be leaving an envelope for someone. She pilfers it from the mailbox and finds $10,000 inside.

More murders occur. Marvin Deving Harry Ellerbe is shot and killed just before he can reveal further information to Piper. Meanwhile, Withers and Piper learn that the first victim was not Forrest, but his bodyguard Tom Kelsey George Meeker. He and the real Forrest had swapped identities, a twist that complicates the case.

After McArthur confronts Withers at gunpoint, trussing her up and placing her in a closet, Piper rescues her. McArthur is later found dead, the scene staged to look like a suicide, but Withers notices that the pistol in his hand is not his own.

When an employee reports that the fish in the hotel pond are dying, Withers finds discarded cigarettes nearby; one had fallen into the water, poisoning the fish. With the smoking gun in hand, all the pieces begin to fit. She takes Piper to see the grieving Kay Deving Dorothy Libaire. She offers Kay a cigarette, and while Kay initially refuses to smoke, Withers reveals the smoking gun’s whereabouts. Kay eventually produces McArthur’s gun and concedes that she and Marvin had planned to claim the reward for Forrest’s supposed murder, but Withers had already taken it. Marvin’s attempt to double-cross McArthur ended with his death at the employer’s hands, and Kay then kills McArthur to settle the score.