Illinois Authors

iUniverse.com, Lincoln, NE : ©2000.

Joan Spencer and the Oliver Civic Symphony are rehearsing "The Unanswered Question" when Joan finds a body.

Joan Spencer, violinist and manager of the Oliver, Indiana Civic Symphony, is busy with preparations for the group's performance at the hugely popular annual quilt show. But when the body of show organizer Mary Sue Ellett is found under a quilt, the competition takes on a sinister tone.Joan suspects Mary Sue's death had to do with a missing will that the entire Ellett family has been circling like vulture to locate. But looking for cold hard motives among the soft down turns up some surprising stitches--and the handiwork of a devious killer.

I can't play the concert, Sylvia Purcell said. I have to sit in a tree. Joan Spencer, manager of the local Civic Symphony, is up a tree herself when one of her top violinists deserts the orchestra right before a concert. Sylvia is looking for publicity in protest of a local environmentally-unfriendly construction project. But before she can be talked down peacefully, Sylvia crashes to the ground, right at the feet of Joan's son Andrew, and it's clearly no accident. For Joan, the question of just who knocked Sylvia into the next world becomes far more interesting than making sure the orchestra is ready for the big event. Could Sylvia have been killed by the shifty contractor, who's always nearby' The Earth Freedom Fighters, who defaced his equipment' The source of the mysterious moving lights in the woods late at night' Or does all the evidence point to Joan's son Andrew himself' No one seems to have any answers, but the biggest question of all is particularly close to Joan's heart: Just how much danger Andrew in' Sara Hoskinson Frommer is a true master of the atmospheric, small-town mystery, and Death Climbs a Tree is another superb entry in a series that continues to please.

Worldwide, Toronto ; 2008, ©2005.

Worldwide, Toronto ; 1998, ©1997.

A judge is murdered while performing in an amateur production of an opera by Gilbert and Sullivan in a college town in Indiana. Sleuth Joan Spencer, who plays the viola in the orchestra which provided the music, teams up with a detective and discovers the judge had many enemies.

The Oliver Civic Symphony is just another small-town orchestra, a gathering spot for local amateur musicians. It has weekly rehearsals, punch and cookies, and colorful gossip, and now... it has murder.An oboist suddenly drops dead of what turns out to be a rare poison. A flutist's throat is slashed. Joan Spencer is new in town ⁰́₃ but quickly becomes an old hand at digging out clues. And with the help of Oliver policeman Fred Lundquist, she uncovers a daring melody that only a murderous virtuoso could perform.

Thorndike Press, Waterville, Me. : 2003.

The Oliver Civic Symphony is just another small-town orchestra, a gathering spot for local amateur musicians. It has weekly rehearsals, punch and cookies, and colorful gossip, and now... it has murder. An oboist suddenly drops dead of what turns out to be a rare poison. A flutist's throat is slashed. Joan Spencer is new in town, but quickly becomes an old hand at digging out clues. And with the help of Oliver policeman Fred Lundquist, she uncovers a daring melody that only a murderous virtuoso could perform.

Worldwide, Toronto ; 2000.

Sleuth and violinist Joan Spencer of Indiana searches for a Brazilian player and her Stradivarius, gone missing during an international competition. Suspected by police is a contestant who is Joan's future son-in-law and she has to clear his name. By the author of Murder in C Major.

St. Martin's Minotaur, New York : 1999.

Sleuth and violinist Joan Spencer of Indiana searches for a Brazilian player and her Stradivarius, gone missing during an international competition. Suspected by police is a contestant who is Joan's future son-in-law and she has to clear his name. By the author of Murder in C Major.

A Christmas sojourn to the scenic Swedish-American community of Bishop Hill serves as both a belated honeymoon for Indiana newlyweds Joan Spencer and husband, Lieutenant Fred Lundquist-and a chance fir Fred to check up on his mother, Helga, whose battle with Alzheimer's is beginning to take its toll on the family. For Joan, meeting her spirited mother-in-law turns out to be murder, literally, when the body of a local man is found in the snow and a terrified Mrs. Lundquist appears to have witnessed the vicious crime when she wandered off during one of her bad days. Too disoriented to clearly identify the killer, Helga is nonetheless too big a threat for the murderer to leave alone. With Helga's life in danger, Joan races to sort out which secrets are worth killing for in this peaceful hamlet.--BOOK COVER.

St. Martin's Minotaur, New York : 2002.

Taking a long-delayed honeymoon to Bishop Hill, Joan Spencer joins forces with her spouse to uncover the truth when her mother-in-law, who suffers from Alzheimer's, becomes the sole witness to a brutal murder.