Death Climbs a Tree

This was my least favorite of all her books I've read so far. The tree part I thought a little hooky. It just wasn't to me a well developed plot. If you like to spy from 70 feet up in a tree or protest your cause, you'll probably enjoy this book. I just kept waiting for it to get better.

Joan Spencer is the manager of the local civic symphony. Right before the big children's concert, Sylvia, who plays first violin in the symphony, tells Joan that she can't perform in the big concert because she'll be up a tree to protest a construction project that will remove a lot of trees. Joan's son Andrew assists in taking food and other items to Sylvia on a regular basis. Joan ends up helping him now and then. One day when they are delivering food to her, Sylvia comes crashing out of the tree. After her seventy-foot fall, she is unconscious and later dies. Andrew takes her place in the tree. Joan and her new husband Fred, a detective lieutenant in the local police force, can't talk him out of it. They aren't happy but hope he'll come to his senses soon. After Joan discovers evidence that Sylvia was murdered, she fears for Andrew's life. Plus she's still searching for a replacement first violinist for the concert and dealing with other issues in the symphony as well as at the senior center where she works. Can the killer be found and caught without Andrew being harmed? And can Joan stay unharmed as well? I had never read anything by this author before. I really enjoyed this book and hope to read others by her. Joan is such a great character. Her husband Fred, while he's a cop and gone a lot, he is also a great guy and portrayed well. I liked all the symphony members as well. Some of them were obnoxious, but they were supposed to be that way. The small town setting was wonderfully done. I highly recommend this book!

Joan Spencer, manager of the Oliver Civic Symphony is in a pickle, because Sylvia Purcell, one of her violinists is staging a sit-in in a tree to protest the Walcher Construction Project. And the pickle starts closing when she falls out of the tree and is dies at Joan's son's feet. Unknown to Joan, Andrew had been giving food to the protesters, however now that Sylvia has met her maker, Andrew decides to take her spot in the tree. Police Lieutenant Fred Lundquist is investigating the murder. He also happens to be Joan's husband and Andrew's step-father and this makes the pickle even worse, because it looks like Andrew is the prime suspect. So now Joan is turned into an unofficial investigator as she has to clear Andrew of the crime and she is desperate to find the killer, just in case Andrew is next on the list, as it appears that somebody is not happy with the demonstrators and their sit-in. This is a fun mystery that you'll just love to read as you worry along with as Joan works to clear Andrew, but only seems to find evidence that makes him look more and more guilty. Although this is the sixth book in the series, it's the first one I've read and I had no problem understanding the characters and their relationships with each other. I really liked this book and I think you will too.

An excellent small town mystery story, with believable characters and a plot that keeps you guessing throughout the narrative. Details of the small town setting ring true and add to the charm of the story.

Joan Spencer, manager of the Oliver Civic Symphony in Oliver, Indiana, is concerned that her first violinist Sylvia Purcell is sitting in a tree to obstruct Walcher Construction from a project that she feels is hostile to the environment. Joan's son Andrew, a junior at Oliver College, is one of those providing food to the protester. When Sylvia falls out of the tree and dies at Andrew's feet it is discovered that she was murdered. Joan's husband police Lieutenant Fred Lundquist knows he must stay out of the official investigation because his stepson is a prime suspect, but that does not keep Joan from sleuthing as she sees others with motives like Tom Walcher who needed the project to remain on schedule or even the growing militant The Erath Freedom Fighters. One thing she believes is that her son would not harm Sylvia, who he recently met at college and admired. Sara Hoskinson Frommer provides a fabulous amateur sleuth starring an intrepid woman who believes in her son's innocence in spite of the evidence, much of which she finds that affirms his guilt. The story line is action-packed as Joan ignores her spouse and conducts an investigation into who killed her first violinist only to find a lot of folks with motives and opportunity. Readers will enjoy this fine who-done-it because the heroine makes her inquiries seem desperately real especially as one clue after another enhances the case against her son. Harriet Klausner