Visit her website: www.sff.net/people/SaraHoskinsonFrommer
Special thanks to
David Canfield
David Edgerton
Carol Froelich
Alice Fromm
Charles Frommer
Chris Holly
Marni Hoskinson
Laura Kao
Joyce Kostelecky
Susan Kroupa
Laura Lynn Leffers
Celeste Schulman
and to my agents, Shana Cohen and Stuart Krichevsky,
and my editor, Meredith Phillips, who invited this book and did what the best editors do
Murder in C Major
Buried in Quilts
Murder & Sullivan
The Vanishing Violinist
Witness in Bishop Hill
Death Climbs a Tree
Her Brother’s Keeper
Reviews
For Murder in C Major
'Ironing for a corpse wasn't Joan Spencer's idea of fun.' With an opening sentence like that, you surely have to read on. You won't be sorry. Murder in C Major is a virtuoso debut by a new writer.—Washington Post Book World
A chatty, easygoing and conventional first novel....Why C major? Because Schubert's Ninth Symphony, with its great oboe solo in the second movement, is integral to the story.—New York Times Book Review
Murder in C Major is a thoroughly nice mystery with an amiable pair of detectives. It is recommended for those who enjoy a comfortable read on a long winter's night.—Wilson Library Bulletin
For Buried in Quilts
Frommer's second mystery (after Murder in C Major) offers an entertaining family-centered murder investigation while examining the importance of quilts as a means of understanding women's history.—Publishers Weekly
Frommer creates a persuasive Midwest ambience in this quiet book . . . about small-town life, big-time emotions, and the practical poetry of quilts.—Gail Pool, Murder in Print: The Best of New Writers, Wilson Library Bulletin
For Murder & Sullivan
Truly suspenseful and chilling finale Publishers Weekly
A neatly plotted cozy filled with deft touches: Joan's affectionate relationship with her college-age son; what to do in Indiana during a tornado; the surreal dream of knowing, even in sleep, that you have to pee. Joan's relationship with local police officer Fred Lundquist is traced in the tentative dance of older lovers, as the debris of their past (she's a widow; he's divorced) swirls about them. A bit of melodrama at the denouement doesn't mask the basic intelligence and warm charm of this series.—GraceAnne A. DeCandido, Booklist
Murder & Sullivan invites you to kick your shoes off, hunker down on a plush cushion, and lose yourself in a rollicking, old-fashioned, down-home Hoosier-style murder. . . . Frommer excels at creating a small-town ambiance and connecting the story line of the operetta to events aswirl on both sides of the stage curtain.—Edward S. Gilbreth, Mysteries, Chicago Sun-Times
This is a wonderful book full of twists and turns, plotted around a Gilbert & Sullivan production of spooky 'Ruddigore' by someone who obviously loves G&S.—Alma Connaughton, Mysterious Women
For The Vanishing Violinist
Anyone who has ever been involved in the performance of music of an amateur or civic nature will get an extra measure of enjoyment from Sara Hoskinson Frommer's fourth book about Joan Spencer, a sharp and likable woman of a certain age whose interests and concerns are universal enough to win our hearts and unusual enough to capture our minds.—Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune
A well-plotted tale. . . The novel's highlights, however, are the exceptional descriptions of the musical performances, passages in which Frommer proves herself, at least for a moment or two, a Paganini of prose.—Publishers Weekly
It's a fun mystery that focuses on the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. It's enjoyable because it is so insightful and exact.—Tom Beczkiewicz, executive director, International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, in Indianapolis Monthly
A warm cozy with a most appealing heroine. . . . The rhythms of small-town life, a good bit about music and musical competition, and the contrasts of Joan's easy relationship with her son and her fraught relationship with her daughter dovetail nicely with twinned mysteries that turn out, of course, to be connected.—GraceAnne A. DeCandido, Booklist
Her best to date—Kirkus Reviews
For Witness in Bishop Hill
The prize here is the gently effective interpretation of the Alzheimer's scourge.—Kirkus Reviews
When Joan and new husband Lt. Fred Lundquist travel to Bishop Hill for a belated honeymoon, the only witness to murder in the small Swedish-American community is Fred's Alzheimer's-afflicted mother. Expect plenty of cosy chills as Joan strives to prevent a vicious killer from striking again.—Publishers Weekly
The care and handling of Alzheimer's victims is neatly enfolded into this tale, which also gently treats Swedish Christmas customs, the tender and fraught relationship between Joan's college-age son Andrew, his new step-father, and herself, and the long memories of small towns. Frommer is a brisk and clean writer, and she handles the rueful ambivalence of middle age very well indeed.—GraceAnne A. DeCandido, Booklist
For Death Climbs a Tree
Clashes between environmentalists and builders, struggles in the workplace, and blending families combine to make DEATH CLIMBS A TREE an all-too-believable contemporary tale.—Molly Weston, Meritorious Mysteries
"I can't play the concert," violinist Sylvia Purcell informs Joan Spencer, the Oliver Civic Symphony manager, at the start of Frommer's sixth Joan Spencer mystery. "I have to sit in a tree." Sylvia's protest against the development of a wooded area for low-income housing turns deadly when she falls out of the tree in front of Joan and her son, Andrew. Evidence Joan finds points quickly to murder, with Andrew a prime suspect. Low-key suspense and likable characters.—Publishers Weekly
Sara Hoskinson Frommer delivers a solidly satisfying, character driven, small town cozy that addresses not only environmental issues but aging, workplace harassment and the impact of death on family and friends left behind. A very enjoyable read.—Sally Powers, I Love a Mystery
For Her Brother’s Keeper
Well-plotted . . .Frommer uses dialogue effectively to highlight each character’s individuality. —Publishers Weekly
Although as the ending neared I thought I knew the identity of the killer, I was wrong, and it was a surprising finish. This is a welcome addition to the series, with its contingent of [mostly] likeable characters and the familiar small-town setting. Thoroughly enjoyable, it isRECOMMENDED.—Gloria Feit, I Love a Mystery
Her Brother's Keeper is a captivating, absorbing family mystery. The characters are uniformly well drawn, with a good mixture of individual strengths and weaknesses, and almost as interesting, their own perceived strengths. . . enjoyable from start to finish.—Beth of The Betz Review in HIDDEN Staircase Mystery Books
Cover art Linda Weatherly Shroyer
Cover design Susan J. Kroupa
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