Paws for Alarm
by Marian Babson
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A summer in England sounds like a great idea for the Harper family, so they swap their New England home for a lovely cottage near London. Why, the house even comes with a cat, a shy marmalade named Esmond. Everything seems purrfect, until someone tries to kill Mr. Harper.Tags
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The Harper family trades homes for the summer with a newly widowed woman from England. Arnold needs to do research there, and the widow wants to spend time with her sister. It’s a wonderful idea, until the murderous attempts on Arnold’s life begin. At first, the strange occurrences seem like accidents, but then other things add up and equal attempted murder. It’s a quick read, and pretty interesting. The story’s main entertaining factor, though, are the twins, Donald and Donna. Without their antics, the book would have been a little flat.
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49+ Works 3,016 Members
Marian Babson Author Marian Babson was born in Salem, Massachusetts but spent the better part of her life living in London, England. Marian Babson a pseudonym for Ruth Stenstreem. Babson has held many jobs that included a librarian, manager of a campaign headquarters, a receptionist/secretary to commercial artists, and a co-editor of a show more machine-knitting magazine. She also served as secretary to the Crime Writers' Association. Some of Babson's many titles include "The Multiple Cat" (1999), , "Miss Petunia's Last Case" (1997), "Fatal Fortune" (1987), "Death Beside the Seaside" (1982), "Murder, Murder, Little Star" (1977) and "There Must Be Some Mistake" (1975), Retreat from Murder, (2004), Only the Cat Knows, (2005) and No Cooperation from the Cat, (2012). (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Paws for Alarm
- Original title
- Death Swap
- Original publication date
- 1984
- People/Characters
- Nancy Harper; Arnold Harper; Donna Harper; Donald Harper; Lania Sandgate; Richard Sandgate (show all 9); Hazel Davies; Piers Alperton; Esmond (Cat)
- Important places
- London, England, UK
- First words
- We had flown out from Logan Airport in the middle of a scorcher that showed no sign of abating.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I'm not sure you deserve it, but . . . maybe I will.
- Disambiguation notice
- Originally published in Great Britain by Collins Crime, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, as Death Swap.
The adventures of the family that the Harpers switch with are chronicled in Whiskers and Smoke... (show all)i>, also published as Trail of Ashes
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- Members
- 114
- Popularity
- 282,875
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (2.95)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 18
- ASINs
- 1

























































