Review
Unpretentious yet nonetheless impressive in its quiet way. . . a virtuoso debut by a new writer.
--Washington Post

Book Description
Music can be murder....
Oliver, Indiana. Quiet streets. Deep roots. Families and neighbors. Young widow Joan Spencer returns, wondering if anyone can really go home again. She finds few familiar faces, but from those old friends spring connections--and reminders of what long memories exist in small towns.
Actually Oliver is not so small. It has a busy college where Joan's son grows fascinated with biological research. A senior center, where she lands the director's job. An amateur orchestra where she settles into the viola section--and right next to an unpleasant oboist who drops from his chair during rehearsal. Rushed to the hospital, the man dies, if not to universal applause, then to a general sense of relief. A young Japanese violinist is puzzled: the victim displayed all the symptoms of fugu poisoning. The autopsy confirms he's been murdered.
Enter police lieutenant Fred Lundquist. Investigation determines more than one source for the poison, not necessarily the deadly puffer fish, and a wide circle of suspects. He and Joan gradually make connections until--not quite to crashing chords and drum rolls--she realizes they've looked at it all the wrong way round...

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Music can be murder....<br>Oliver, Indiana. Quiet streets. Deep roots. Families and neighbors. Young widow Joan Spencer returns, wondering if anyone can really go home again. She finds few familiar faces, but from those old friends spring connections--and reminders of what long memories exist in small towns.<br>Actually Oliver is not so small. It has a busy college where Joan's son grows fascinated with biological research. A senior center, where she lands the director's job. An amateur orchestra where she settles into the viola section--and right next to an unpleasant oboist who drops from his chair during rehearsal. Rushed to the hospital, the man dies, if not to universal applause, then to a general sense of relief. A young Japanese violinist is puzzled: the victim displayed all the symptoms of fugu poisoning. The autopsy confirms he's been murdered.<br>Enter police lieutenant Fred Lundquist. Investigation determines more than one source for the poison, not necessarily the deadly puffer fish, and a wide circle of suspects. He and Joan gradually make connections until--not quite to crashing chords and drum rolls--she realizes they've looked at it all the wrong way round...

SYNOPSIS

Originally published in 1988, Murder in C Major is the first of Sara Hoskinson Frommer's delightful series featuring Joan Spencer and set in the not so sleepy small college community of Oliver, Indiana. Excellently and innovatively constructed with a most unusual murder method, it centers around the sudden death of the first oboist during his solo in Schubert's Great C Major Symphony. Then a flutist is found with a slashed throat and Joan, who plays the viola and manages the symphony's music library, finds herself involved in helping Lt. Fred Lundquist, a detective in Oliver's police force, to unravel the clues that will identify the murderer. This title radiates with a warmth and understanding of humanity combined with a deep and rich appreciation of music.

About the Author:

Sara Hoskinson Frommer is a charter member of the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra in Bloomington, Indiana, where she has lived for more than 30 years after growing up mostly in northern Illinois, with a few years in Hawaii. Like Joan Spencer, her amateur detective, she plays viola, and like Joan, she also has played in the pit for Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. But both Joan and Sara have a life beyond music, including adult children. "A good thing, too," Sara says. "Fortunately, I write better than I play!" She prepared for her career as a mystery writer by studying German at Oberlin College (Ohio), in T￯﾿ﾽbingen (Germany) and at Brown University. Sara has also written 16 short, easy-to-read books for adult new readers. Published by New Readers Press, the publishing division of Laubach Literacy International, they are known as the Kaleidoscope Collection of Stories. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.

FROM THE CRITICS

Wilson Library Bulletin

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.

The New York Times Book Review

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.

Elizabeth Winkler - Sunday Herald-Times

Another Joan Spencer-Fred Lundquist adventure from Sara Frommer would be welcome.

Gazette

Murder in C Major is Sara Hoskinson Frommer's first mystery and it is excellent... The story is loaded with cogent information and irresistible characters. Don't miss Murder in C Major. It's a winner.

Pat Phillips