Divine Inspiration [Audio Cassette]

Jane Langton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1994

First a fire consumes both the sexton and the pipe organ at a Boston church; then a 14-month-old baby appears at the door. Alan Starr, master organist, teams up with Homer Kelly to find the boy's mother -- only to discover that competition for the job of chief organist is reaching deadly proportions.

Spiced with ecclesiastical mayhem and musical mischief, accented with Bach's musical puzzles, church politics and pipe organs, DIVINE INSPIRATION is vintage Langton -- with all the stops pulled out!

"Happily, Langton, as well as the new organ, is equipped with a unique stop knob button marked 'DIV INSP.'" (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

For the musically inclined or those just interested in a good mystery, Langton provides a Homer Kelly title centered on a suspicious fire that destroys the First Church of the Commonwealth's pipe organ and incinerates the church sexton as well. More problems arise with construction of a new instrument. Line drawings accompany the author's crisp prose and musical allusions.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Homer Kelly may not be one of the better-known cop heroes, but he's certainly one of the most pleasant and endearing. In Langton's latest, Kelly investigates a puzzling set of events involving the First Church of the Commonwealth in Boston. A fire has destroyed the church's organ and left its sexton dead. Now that the glorious new organ is being installed, strange things are happening: an apparently abandoned baby crawls into the church, inexplicable accidents keep delaying the organ's installation, a former musical genius reappears in a homeless shelter, and the church is literally coming apart at the seams. Langton has a knack for weaving dozens of seemingly unrelated plot threads together to form a satisfying and entertaining mystery. She's done her homework on Boston and its topography; on sacred music, the musicians who wrote it, and the instruments on which it's played; and on religious history and personalities, all of which add color, charm, and credibility to her story. There's plenty of humor and suspense, a wealth of eccentric characters, and a heartwarmingly happy ending. Highly recommended for fans of the traditional mystery. Emily Melton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Books on Tape, Inc. (May 1, 1994)
• ISBN-10: 0736627227
• ISBN-13: 978-0736627221
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,017,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've written an awful lot of books. There are eleven for middle-aged children, mostly fantasies. The ones that have hung around the longest are "The Diamond in the Window" and "The Fledgling." The seventh in the series called "The Hall Family Chronicles" came out last spring, "The Mysterious Circus," and I've just finished writing an eighth, "The Dragon Tree."

All eighteen mysteries for adults have the same protagonists, Homer and Mary Kelly. Mary is the sensible one, but I confess I like Homer's rhapsodic flights of fancy. Most of their adventures happen in Massachusetts, but I've also sent them to farflung places I wanted to visit myself, like Florence, Oxford and Venice. Most of the novels are illustrated with my own drawings, but "The Escher Twist" has ten prints by the mysterious Dutch artist M. C. Escher, and the two historical mysteries are illustrated with nineteenth-century photographs.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Divine Read, April 14, 2004

By 

Marian Loreti (Annapolis, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Divine Inspiration: A Homer Kelly Mystery (Paperback)

The hero of "Divine Inspiration" is an organist who is "voicing" a new organ just installed in a church damaged by a mysterious fire. He befriends a toddler who is making his way up the steps of the church one day, then locates the baby's home and discovers that the fatherless child's mother - herself an accomplished organist - is mysteriously missing. Our hero falls in love with both the child and the child's mother, whom he has never met except through her photos and mementoes in the baby's home.

Jane Langton's delightful Homer Kelly mysteries are just what the doctor ordered for a rainy afternoon. What makes these books special are, of course, her charming line drawings, her spellbinding plots, and her humor, which has a Dickensian ability to expose the pompous, the greedy, the pretentious. What distinguishes the Langton mysteries (apart from the line drawings) is that you always come away from them having learned something - in this case, all about organs, which was of particular interest to me. "Divine Inspiration" is a divine read.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Characters + Great Plot = Great Book, April 2, 2004

By 

MZ (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Divine Inspiration: A Homer Kelly Mystery (Hardcover)

I was a bit reluctant to begin this Homer Kelly mystery - my third (after getting hooked with Escher Twist and then Dark Nantucket Noon). The reason for my reluctance was the subject matter - churches and organists. Sounded boring. I know very little about either of those things and couldn't imagine wanting to learn more.

Well, once I started reading, I couldn't put this book down! I loved the characters (Rosie, Alan, Pip, Charlie, Harold Oates, Barbara Inch, even Debbie Buffington), and I was completely taken by surprise at the end -- yet it all added up so perfectly.

In addition, I must mention once again that the illustrations really add to the book, especially with the look of the organs and the architecture. Because they are created by the author, they give a great insight into her perception as she is writing, yet she never reveals so much that your own imagination of the happenings is affected.

Kudos to another fine mystery by Jane Langton! I will be returning to the library for another Homer Kelly mystery ASAP.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cozy at it's finest, May 10, 1998

By 

puffinswan "puffinswan" (Brigadoon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Divine Inspiration: A Homer Kelly Mystery (Paperback)

Another wonderful book from Jane Langton. One of my favorite "cozy" mystery writers. She writes with a decidedly eccentric quirkiness that makes her books stand out from the crowd. Full of irony, and loving touches, her books are 1990's quaint without being old fashioned. She spins a lovely web.