Book Review: Death Climbs a Tree

Reviewed By: Dawn Dowdle

Death Climbs a Tree     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Sara Hoskinson Frommer
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Woman Main Character   Amateur Sleuth
Series: Joan Spencer # 6
St. Martin’s, Hardback, 8/05, 278 pages, $23.95

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!

Dawn Dowdle

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Dawn Dowdle

Please visit Dawns website at www.mysteryloverscorner.com