The Doctor Makes a Dollhouse Call

Dr. Fenimore #2

by Robin Hathaway

Emily and Judith Pancoast, elderly sisters, are the owners of a priceless dollhouse that is an exact replica of their Victorian home in a small seaside resort near Philadelphia. The dollhouse is inhabited by dolls that the sisters crafted to resemble each member of their family.

On Thanksgiving Day, just before relatives arrive for dinner, Emily Pancoast discovers that the dollhouse dining room table, set in miniature of the real one, is in total disarray and the doll representing their niece Pamela is lying facedown in her dessert plate. When Pamela's death soon follows, the sisters turn to the physician detective, Dr. Andrew Fenimore.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 24, 2000

About the author

Robin graduated from Germantown Friends School and Smith College (BA/English). While her two daughters were young she owned and operated a printing/advertising firm Barnhouse Press from her home (there was a printing press in the barn and one in the house) and did freelance writing and photography. One daughter claims she was lulled to sleep by the methodical beat of a printing press in the kitchen and a close friend claimed she once found ink in her mashed potatoes!

But Robin had always wanted to write, and on her 50th birthday her husband told her, "It's now or never." So she began. She wrote three mystery novels in three years featuring Dr. Andrew Fenimore, an old-fashioned cardiologist who still made house calls. Robin's amateur sleuth was patterned after her husband, who just happened to also be a cardiologist.

When Robin isn't writing, she does free lance editing, teaches mystery writing, and lectures on the mystery novel at schools, libraries, and other institutions. Her short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Arthur Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and Death Knell.
Robin divides her time between Philadelphia and New York City.

Reviews

[Barbara Nutting]

Ann B Ross + Agatha Christie = Robin Hathaway. A lighthearted tale with Dr Detective and his sidekick Mrs. Doyle. Oh, do I love these characters! 💕❤️

[Anne]

If you like slightly silly, light hearted mystery with an inordinately high body count, this is just the book for you.

[BookSweetie]

Author Robin Hathaway won the St. Martin's Malice Domestic prize, and later an Agatha Award for the first book in her Dr. Fenimore series, charmingly titled The Doctor Digs a Grave.

It isn't a breach of protocol to read the second book in the series before the first one, is it? Well, that's what I did, in any event. I read the oddly titled THE DOCTOR MAKES A DOLLHOUSE VISIT first. I was in the mood for a light and entertaining mystery, and it did deliver the goods!

It isn't too long, it kept me guessing, and the detective, a Philadelphia doc who makes house calls and humbly does sleuthing on the side, is quite likable.

The title alludes to the fact that the murders are being staged in advance in an elaborate dollhouse owned by the elder Pancoast sisters, longtime friends of the doc. When the sisters, and their extended family, are seemingly being targeted one by one for... murder (of course), the sisters call on their longtime friend's detective skills for help.

To learn how the doc helps them -- or not, you'll simply have to read the mystery yourself. I'm not saying! Myself, I'm heading out to look for that first Dr. Fenimore book. It'd be such a crime to miss it!

[Julie]

Usually folks like to curl up with a good cozy mystery during the fall and winter months, but I was just in one of those moods, so I grabbed this one off my shelf. This is short book, typical of the cozy genre. I haven't, to my knowledge read any of Robin Hathaways's other novels, so I didn't really know what to expect. For me this one was just average. A very fast, super light read. Pleasant enough, but I wouldn't go out of my way to look this one up.

[Jen]

This was a quick read. I didn't really enjoy it though. The idea was adorable, but the way it played out was so implausible and obvious. The writing seemed stilted and old fashioned, even though it was supposed to have a reasonably modern setting. It was also another case of someone being written as far older than they were supposed to be. The doctor is supposed to be 45, but he acts like he's elderly. Annoying! The "friend" he didn't want to call his girlfriend seemed kind of tacked on.

[Frédérique]

Keeps all the promises of the first one. Nice leasure reading ...

[Sherri]

Really enjoyable, fast read! It had me guessing through three fourths of the book. May read more from this series.

[Bridget]

Dr Andrew Fenimore has been the family physician for Judith and Emily Pancoast for years, even though he is in Philadelphia and the two elderly sisters live on the Jersey coast. The Pancoasts are a wealthy family and the two sisters are the matriarchs.

In the family home, the sisters have installed a dollhouse that is a duplicate of the family home, complete with dolls representing each family member. The story begins on Thanksgiving, when someone notices that the doll depicting Pamela, a niece of the sisters, is slumped over the dining room table, and the room is in disarray. Shortly afterwards, the actual Pamela is discovered in the same pose and location, having been murdered.

Dr Fenimore begins searching for answers. He and his nurse Mrs Doyle have had small successes in the past with their investigations. But this one is particularly puzzling, with the addition of the dollhouse setup.

When Christmas and other holidays arrive with variations on the theme and more family members killed, Dr Fenimore feels he s racing against time.

This was an interesting take on a sort of closed room mystery, and had me wondering until the end.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)]

This book started out well, but the bodies pile up one upon another, the narration is scrappy, and after awhile the whole thing basically spins out of control as the plot gets wilder and wilder. Spread over nearly a year, the narrative leaps from one holiday to another in an attempt to--what? Draw out the tension? But drawing it out mitigates it. The "surprise" ending was just weird, and not terribly believable. Hathaway should have gone with her first idea for the killer. Four (or was it five?) bodies in one short book is too many; classic mystery writers know to stop at three, or it just gets silly.
Another reviewer states that Fenimore as written sounds more elderly than mid-forties and I have to agree; I kept seeing him as someone in his early sixties. He was also too coy about his girlfriend for my taste.

[Eugene]

A quirky (& short, due to the author’s untimely death) series of 5 books, this the 2nd. These are not mainstream mysteries, being largely personality driven tales and the storylines revolve around the lives of the characters we meet as much as any “mystery” we encounter…still, they’re entertaining reads; the rest of the series only available as hardcover books but I’ll try to obtain and read them.

[Rob Paczkowski]

Light and airy. Good quick read. Lots happening but not always best for story. Personal life of Dr. A bit convoluted. Didn't make me want to go out and put effort to find and read others.

[Cindy Norris]

Quirky mystery where the murders are acted out in a dollhouse before they happen.

[Ed]

#2 in the Dr. Fenimore series. A quirky, cozy series far from my usual reading matter. For some reason, I enjoyed the series very much. It carries the personality of the late author, Robin Hathaway, who came to writing late in life.

Philadelphia doctor Andrew Fenimore series - Emily and Judith Pancoast, elderly sisters, are the owners of a priceless dollhouse that is an exact replica of their Victorian home in a small seaside resort near Philadelphia. The dollhouse is inhabited by dolls that the sisters crafted to resemble each member of their family. On Thanksgiving Day, just before relatives arrive for dinner, Emily Pancoast discovers that the dollhouse dining room table, set in miniature of the real one, is in total disarray and the doll representing their niece Pamela is lying facedown in her dessert plate. When Pamela's death soon follows, the sisters turn to the physician detective, Dr. Andrew Fenimore.

[Sunsettowers]

A physician gets involved in solving a series of murders that are all accompanied by exact replicas of the crime scenes in an elaborate dollhouse.


I love how fast-paced this cozy mystery is! Things start happening right away, and don't let up. But Hathaway still manages to create interesting characters, and a mystery with good clues and a clever resolution.


I felt when the doctor's possible paramour came into play, things slowed down a little. Her addition didn't really seem necessary--the doctor was already a humanized and likable character.


This has been sitting on my shelf for a while, and I'm really glad I finally picked it up. This is a clever, fun mystery that manages to never really drag.

[Sarah A]

An enjoyable mystery - second in the series starring Dr Fenimore. This book explores the murder of a member of a prestigious local family which has been pre-advertised in the beautiful dollhouse representation of the family home. I enjoyed the mystery and the twists and the characters although SPOILER - why did she have to write off the beautiful doll house - that made me cry!

[Mary M]

This is the second book in a series but the first one that I read. Loved some of the quirky characters but there were a lot of pages for what was really very little action. I didn't love it, but I won't rush out to buy other books in the series.

[Book Concierge]

Book 2 in the series starring Andrew Fenimore MD. Cozy mysteries. Not terible inventive, but a nice diversion.

[JoAn]

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery. I actually didn't know for sure who the culprit was until the end of the book. I would definitely read more of Robin Hathaway's books.

[Joan]

Series set in Philadelphia and southern NJ

[Joyce M. Tice]

Cleverly plotted.