Emily Dickinson Is Dead [Hardcover]

Jane Langton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1984

Emily Dickinson noted "death's tremendous nearness" in one of her poems. Of course, she'd been dead 100 years when her admirers came to Amherst to celebrate her at a memorial symposium.

Among them was Homer Kelly, distinguished Thoreau scholar and ex-detective, who had himself dealt with murder -- a form of death -- in the past. To his amazement he finds himself once again embroiled in sudden death when murder stalks the symposium.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

6 1.5-hour cassettes --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 247 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (May 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312244347
• ISBN-13: 978-0312244347
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,065,180 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

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Emily Dickinson Lives!, July 16, 2000

By 

Cynthia Riggs (Martha's Vineyard, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Emily Dickinson Is Dead: A Homer Kelly Mystery (Paperback)

I chose the book because a friend is an Emily Dickinson fan, I'm a mystery fan, I was charmed by the author's sketches, and delighted by the snippets of Dickinson's poetry. What a fine discovery! The characters are complex, subtle, and interesting. The college town setting is vivid. The plot had unexpected twists and turns that kept me guessing. I learned something about the workings of dams and reservoirs, and I learned something about Emily Dickinson and her poetry, enough so I followed up "Emily Dickinson is Dead" by reading her biography. This was my first Jane Langton book. She has managed to do what a lot of writers only aspire to -- her writing is so transparent I forget the story and setting were coming to me through print on a page.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous Characters tangled in a Whimisical plot, January 29, 2000

By 

Paris Sangrene (Princeton, New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Emily Dickinson Is Dead (Linford Mystery Library) (Paperback)

I have to totally disagree with the previous review. I found this Homer Kelly mystery refreshing and fully of marvelous characters full of human foibles. The descriptions were subtle but often verged on the hilarious. This is the book that hooked me on Jane Langton. It's too bad that the previous reader did not read the dust jacket before purchasing this book. It very clearly identifies itself as a mystery and not an study in Emily Dickinson. It's not surprising that she did not enjoy the book since it mocks stuffy Emily Dickinson scholars. But I found this book to be a skillfully written romp in weakness of human nature.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect blend of personalities, September 28, 2007

By 

J. A. Eyon "Little Raven" (Seattle - USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Emily Dickinson Is Dead: A Homer Kelly Mystery (Paperback)

I wonder if there is a writer more perfectly suited to exploit Emily Dickinson than Jane Langton simply becuz Jane has qualities that evoke Emily -- a beautifully disciplined tone, New England quaintness, mixed with a sparkling imagination. That's in addition to the plot of this novel which is a complex mystery surrounding a newly unearthed photo of a woman who might be Emily Dickinson (in addition to the one irrefutable photo which exists). It's set in Emily's hometown of Amherst during a symposium where conflicts abound. Jane gives this story a mixture of wry humor and homespun drama, and she contributes her own line drawings. This is for those types of people who prefer quiet, thoughtful movies to loud, blazing action one. I found this novel pure joy.