Please Omit Funeral by Hildegarde Dolson was initially appealing and chosen because it takes place in Connecticut in the mid-seventies and because I spotted it at a library book sale. Reading a mystery set in the seventies presented a chance to look back at habits and cultural mores of the time but also of the type of suspense popular at the time.
The victim and all around nasty guy was not a sympathetic character, the most obvious suspect almost as bad. The remaining cast of characters were interesting and well developed with two lead characters particularly well done. Clues to the case were numerous and sometimes contradictory but led to continuing interest in the story. Here we are 35 or so years later and still classic novels are being removed from libraries and extensive acrimony exists between the would-be censors and First Amendment defenders. The sense of shock at the existence and talent of a young and attractive librarian reinforced the usual stereotypical picture of a librarian. The local thrift shop was as popular for clothing as for gossip, not too different from today. The most amazing thing was the description of smoking in a hospital – unheard of today. This was an interesting mystery with a heroine who was a widow with very human thoughts and deeds. I quite liked her and would read another in this series.
Hildegarde Dolson, 1908-1981 was a prolific and writer and self declared spinster who was often quoted as being in favor of the single life (a characteristic shared by the heroine of the story). Dolson left Pennsylvania and arrived in New York City on Black Friday. That fact did not stop her from becoming a writer and she was published in numerous magazines. 1935 saw the publication of the first of 15 novels and non-fiction. In 1965, she married another suspense writer, Richard Lockridge , giving up spinsterhood.
This book and others by Dolson are available through Amazon both hardcover and paperback versions.
The victim and all around nasty guy was not a sympathetic character, the most obvious suspect almost as bad. The remaining cast of characters were interesting and well developed with two lead characters particularly well done. Clues to the case were numerous and sometimes contradictory but led to continuing interest in the story. Here we are 35 or so years later and still classic novels are being removed from libraries and extensive acrimony exists between the would-be censors and First Amendment defenders. The sense of shock at the existence and talent of a young and attractive librarian reinforced the usual stereotypical picture of a librarian. The local thrift shop was as popular for clothing as for gossip, not too different from today. The most amazing thing was the description of smoking in a hospital – unheard of today. This was an interesting mystery with a heroine who was a widow with very human thoughts and deeds. I quite liked her and would read another in this series.
Hildegarde Dolson, 1908-1981 was a prolific and writer and self declared spinster who was often quoted as being in favor of the single life (a characteristic shared by the heroine of the story). Dolson left Pennsylvania and arrived in New York City on Black Friday. That fact did not stop her from becoming a writer and she was published in numerous magazines. 1935 saw the publication of the first of 15 novels and non-fiction. In 1965, she married another suspense writer, Richard Lockridge , giving up spinsterhood.
This book and others by Dolson are available through Amazon both hardcover and paperback versions.
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