Death Climbs a Tree

“I can't play the concert,” Sylvia Purcell said. “I have to sit in a tree.”

Just before their big children’s concert, Joan Spencer, manager of the Civic Symphony in Oliver, Indiana, learns that she will be minus one of her best violinists. Sylvia is protesting a housing construction project that threatens underground streams, caves, trees, and wildlife. Joan's college-student son, Andrew, supports Sylvia's cause and takes her food and water. But the protest turns deadly when Sylvia plunges to her death. It's soon clear that her fall was no accident. Sleuthing for answers, Joan is caught between the hard-nosed developer and local militant activists. Worse, Andrew takes Sylvia's dangerous spot in the tall tree and becomes the police's prime suspect.