THE MEMORIAL HALL MURDER. [Hardcover]

Jane. Langton (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: HARPER & ROW. NY 1978; First Edition edition (1978)
• ISBN-10: 0060125071
• ISBN-13: 978-0060125073
• ASIN: B000GLJJCI
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,972,235 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 Enter Homer Kelly, May 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Memorial Hall Murder: A Homer Kelly Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the book that launched Jane Langton's fame as a mystery writer. She has written much since that time, but I suspect this may be her best work. It has a light touch, a really interesting mystery, and a nice background of Harvardiana and classical music. The university setting is well done, which is unusual among "murder on the campus" books. Current Harvard students may be a bit puzzled (Memorial Hall was completely redone in the mid-'90's, years after this book was published). The plot is expertly constructed, and there is a strong sense of place and time, which allows the reader to care about the action and the characters. I give it 4 stars rather than 5 because I reserve 5 stars for something like The Hound of the Baskervilles.... This book is disappearing from library shelves, but there are still a lot of used copies about. Buy one now, before they are gone, too!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars hilarious, May 17, 2001

By 

Jón Lárus Stefánsson "Hildigunnur" (Reykjavík, Iceland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Memorial Hall Murder: A Homer Kelly Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is one of my favourites. It combines my liking for mysteries and love of classical music. Homer and Mary Kelly assist some students at Harvard to find their lost and loved professor. We follow the rehearsing of Handel's Messiah, and I laughed out loud by the description of a characters tries to learn the music, playing the violin. (probably not as funny for non musicians though) Good book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Humor & Suspense & Music & Harvard, February 11, 2005

By 

Mike in Glen Head, NY - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Memorial Hall Murder: A Homer Kelly Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the first Homer and Mary Kelly book that I've read. When I come across a mystery that I really enjoy, I try to read all the other books by the author. So I look forward to enjoying the other 16 mysteries that Jane Langton has written in this series.

If you like mysteries with lots of local color and humorous Tom Wolfe-like situations and observations, you won't be disappointed.