Sneeze on Sunday

by Andre Norton, Grace Allen Hogarth

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.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Andre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, was a pioneering American author of science fiction and fantasy, widely regarded as the Grande Dame of those genres. She also wrote historical and contemporary fiction, publishing under the pen names Andre Alice Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston. She launched her career in 1934 with The Prince Commands, adopting the name “Andre” to appeal to a male readership. After working for the Cleveland Library System and the Library of Congress, she began publishing science fiction under “Andrew North” and fantasy under her own name. She became a full-time writer in 1958 and was known for her prolific output, including Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Witch World, the latter spawning a long-running series and shared universe. Norton was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America and authored Quag Keep, the first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game. She influenced generations of writers, including Lois McMaster Bujold and Mercedes Lackey. Among her many honors were being the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master. In her later years, she established the High Hallack Library to support research in genre fiction. Her legacy continues with the Andre Norton Award for young adult science fiction and fantasy.

Reviews

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dated cozy mystery. The main character is a librarian from New York who gets a temporary job running a bookstore and lending library in a small New England town when the owner needs to leave town to tend a sick relative. She applies and is hired by mail, which seemed odd to me. Necessary to introduce her, but not something that would happen without further investigation on both ends.

Fairly early in the book the police chief is visiting her and is surprised that she locks the door. She explains that a) she is from a big city and b) it isn't her house/store so she feels responsible for making sure everything is secured. He has to think about this before deciding this makes sense. That didn't feel right to me either.

There is also a romantic interest which felt very flat and unrealistic.

I figured out who the murderer was before the main character did, which very rarely happens.

2.5 stars

[Bart Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps a better title would have been Snooze on Sunday. I've read a great many of Andre Norton's books, so I expected this one to be a fantasy story as well. Nope, it is a tale of murders set in small town in Massachusetts.
I found the story to be too long, and slow moving, to be of much interest, but I had little else to do while waiting in airports, or while flying. I was constantly reminded of the television show "Murder She Wrote" while reading this and wishing it would become more interesting as I read.
Skip it, unless you're a Norton completist.

[Wilson E. Stevens Sr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the few mysteries that Andre Norton wrote. It is a very good and well written book, and I enjoyed it a lot. This takes place in the 1950's in a small New England town. If you have not lived there for 80 years or more, you are a newcomer. When a murder takes place when a new librarian arrives in town, she is the suspect. After all, it has never happened until she showed up. Now she needs to prove her innocence, and find the guilty person.

[Shelli · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the plot and the set up of the mystery, I only wish I could say the same about the protagonist. It's hard to like a protagonist who constantly flip-flops her emotions (if I had a dime for every time she would walk into a room feeling happy, see one thing, and immediately flip to feeling annoyed...or visa versa) and goes out of her way to hate a teenager who ends up murdered by the end of the story.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quaint cosy mystery. Not my usual style but it was pretty good.

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

very dated - written in '50s and full of outdated pop-culture.

one example, many characters smoke tobacco, but there's no judgmentalism against that.

i felt as tho i was in a time warp, reading something fr. the same era as the original nancy drew mysteries.

very pat plot ending - woman new in town solves the mystery and gets the man (love interest).

i think this author (actually a co-author) is the same andre norton who did sci fi, which i never much cared for, either.

one forward looking aspect to the environment created in the book - there's a character who does herb horticulture for commercial sale. that would have been very unusual in the '50s U.S.

don't know why i read this thru, except i felt like it was an artifact of the past.

[D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

While mostly known for her fantasy and science fiction novels, Andre Norton wrote across almost all genres. This is what we would refer to today as a "cozy" mystery about a woman who moves to a small town to run the local bookstore / lending library, and soon finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation.

This isn't one of Norton's major works, by any means. In fact, it's a pretty minor work. There are a few fun bits -- including a bit of possible autobiography, considering Norton herself was a librarian -- and the whole thing is a pretty quick read, but there's nothing to really recommend it from any other mystery of the type.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andre Norton is one of my favorite authors. Sneeze on Sunday is a light, quick, entertaining read. One of her early titles.

[Eugene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book, co-written with Grace Allen Hogarth. A very rare excursion by Alice Mary Norton into the thriller genre ...

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable; I love her science fiction and fantasy. I wish she had written more mysteries.