Sneeze On Sunday [Mass Market Paperback]

Andre Norton (Author), Grace A. Hogarth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 1992

When Fredericka's employer at the bookstore, Miss Hartwell, and then the store's other clerk are murdered, the amateur sleuth must struggle with the tight-lipped residents of the town in order to solve the crime. Reprint. PW. NYT.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An old-fashioned and charming mystery set in New England during the early 1950s is the joint production of science fiction/fantasy veteran Norton (the Witch World series) and mystery editor Hogarth. Librarian Fredericka Wing takes a summer job minding a bookstore in South Sutton, Mass., a college town founded by a family whose reduced financial circumstances are now being ameliorated by the nationally known herb farm run by matriarch Margaret Sutton and her niece, Phillippine, a chemist rescued from a German concentration camp. Returning from a church bazaar, Fredericka finds the body of Catherine Clay, nee Sutton, in the bookstore's hammock. James Brewster, the family lawyer and Catherine's potential fiance, tries to hush up the police investigation, claiming accidental death, but an autopsy finds poison. As mystery buff Fredericka investigates with the fascinating Peter Mohun, teacher at the college and former military intelligence agent, she must overcome the hostility of the townspeople and the machinations of a teenager who may know more than is good for her. This leisurely period piece will attract readers seeking an alternative to breakneck, often brutal suspense fiction.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

It's 1948, and Fredericka Wing, a librarian from New York, takes a summer job in South Sutton, Mass., running a bookstore and lending library for vacationing Lucy Hartwell. Fredericka's neighbors are the aristocratic Sutton family, who run an herb farm and laboratory overseen by widowed Margaret Sutton's niece Philippine, a French survivor of the Nazi camps. Margaret's high- strung daughter Catherine has returned to the farm after a failed marriage; Roger, a war-damaged son, and Lucy Hartwell's niece Margie help out with farm and lab. Fredericka has scarcely settled in when she discovers Catherine's poisoned corpse in her backyard. With new friend Colonel Peter Mohun and police chief Thane Carey, Fredericka strives heavily to solve Catherine's murder and another in its wake, her own life even at risk in a series of artificial dangers. A lifeless story weighted down with cardboard characters, stiff dialogue, a contrived plot, and a heroine given to the vapors. No fun at all. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (December 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812516974
• ISBN-13: 978-0812516975
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,818,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a disappointment!, June 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Sneeze On Sunday (Mass Market Paperback)

This book appears to be a collaberation between Andre Norton and Grace Hogarth, but it reads very unlike Ms. Norton's style. I was very disappointed in this book and had to stop reading it after only three chapters. The plot was very predictable, the characters are not very believable. I have to think Ms. Norton only glanced at what Ms. Hogarth was writing, and did not contribute to this book either in plotlines or in characterizations. Don't waste your money!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good but dated (published in 1953), October 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sneeze on Sunday (Hardcover)

Fredericka, a librarian on vacation, is definitely not a modern woman, being given to attacks of fright and a reluctance to do anything without the approval of the men in her life. A dead body in the backyard is a good reason to be nervous, but not to avoid going out, especially since murder isn't mentioned for quite a ways into the book. It's a good period piece, but has to be read with an eye to the times, as the characters all smoke and actions taken for granted in the 50's ie smoking in bed are no-nos in todays world. The solution was good, and the plot worked, but it seemed a little contrived, especially to a child of the computer age.

2.0 out of 5 stars There's nobody to like, January 4, 2006

By 

Melody Scheiner (Grandview, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sneeze on Sunday (Hardcover)

I found it hard to stick with. I don't mind that it's dated--sometimes things like that can be charming. No, my problem is that every character, including Fredericka, seems to be cranky and petty. No one is likeable.