Murder at Monticello (A Homer Kelly Mystery) [Hardcover]

Jane Langton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2001

A controversial president and a cunning killer await Homer Kelly in the gracious halls of Thomas Jefferson's historic home.

In Murder at Monticello, Jane Langton surpasses even her own delicious best. Rich in complex characters, irresistible humor, and masterly tension, her fifteenth Homer Kelly mystery takes the Harvard sleuth into the cradle of American history. Invited to the Virginia bicentennial celebration of Jefferson's presidency, Homer-a longtime admirer of our third president-is excited to join the festivities.

But more than fireworks are about to explode at Monticello. High above the tourist throngs, in the sun-flooded Dome Room, a former student of Homer's is at work on a book exonerating the founding father from latter-day criticism and scandal. Camped in the dark woods behind Monticello is a young ponytailed trespasser, Tom Dean, who swears the only Jeffersonian good deed was his sponsorship of the Lewis and Clark expedition. And somewhere a vicious murderer of local women is on the prowl. When Tom is arrested as a prime suspect, Homer is drawn into the lives of two troubled Toms: Thomas Jefferson, with the historians; and Thomas Dean, with the law. Threading chapters together with entries and maps from the Lewis and Clark journals and her own magnificent line drawings of Monticello, Langton weaves together scholarship, style, murder, and mayhem to create a mystery masterpiece.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite an annoying hero who should have grown up by the 15th book in a popular and long-running series (The Dante Game; etc.), Langton delivers another solid effort. As Charlottesville, Va., prepares for a presidential visit celebrating the anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's election as U.S. president, a serial killer in the area is stalking female victims. At Monticello newly hired researcher Fern Fisher is trying to burnish Jefferson's tarnished reputation, while in the surrounding woods discontented med student Tom Dean has illegally set up camp. Tom joins Fern in her researches, arguing that sponsoring Lewis and Clark's Voyage of Discovery was Jefferson's only real achievement. As the two pursue their shared interest, the killer sets his sights on Fern. When the body of another woman turns up, Tom faces a murder charge. Enter sleuthing professor Homer, who undertakes to clear Tom's name and expose the real killer. The plot is as twisting and complex as the upper reaches of the Missouri River, and the book teams with likable characters, with two exceptions--the murderer and Homer, with his bag of quirks and foibles. Fortunately, the strong historical background, which includes descriptions of Jefferson's innovations at his home and chapter headings from the explorers' journals, more than compensates. The author's own pen-and-ink drawings add to the charm. (Feb. 19)Forecast: Langton received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Bouchercon 2000 mystery convention. If booksellers publicize that honor, and give healthy display to this book, which carries a nifty cover of Jefferson looking downright puzzled, this could prove to be Langton's most popular Homer Kelly to date.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Harvard sleuth Homer Kelly (The Thief of Venice) stumbles across a complex case when he visits Jefferson's plantation for a bicentennial celebration. Police think an anti-Jeffersonian trespasser camped on the grounds is a serial murderer, but Homer proves otherwise. A fine addition to the series.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (February 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670894621
• ISBN-13: 978-0670894628
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,202,220 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

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars 2 1/2* Very Disappointed, October 24, 2002

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Murder at Monticello: A Homer Kelly Mystery (Homer Kelly Mysteries) (Paperback)

The elements of a great mystery are here. A book that interweaves the issue of slavery, the questions around Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, and the imperatives of the Lewis and Clark expedition with a story about a serial killer sounds promising, but the book does not deliver...There's simply not enough suspense or mystery here, the writing is often annoying, and the characters aren't very interesting. Perhaps some will enjoy this as a light read. Not recommended.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Many Consequences of Obsessions, October 1, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Murder at Monticello (A Homer Kelly Mystery) (Hardcover)

Before reviewing this book, let me warn potential readers that this book contains much off-color language and disgusting details of extreme sexual misbehavior. This is not your normal Jane Langton novel where some sedate professor performs a fairly clean murder. Instead, there is a relatively uneducated serial killer of a most disgusting sort involved. To me, the gross aspects of the serial killer were not essential to the story, and simply lessened the appeal of the book.

Almost all of the characters in Murder at Monticello are obsessed by some aspect of Jeffersons life or of the Lewis and Clark expedition into the newly purchased Louisiana Territory. A July 4th celebration of the bicentennial year of Jeffersons becoming the third president draws these characters to Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia. While some characters are looking forward to the big fireworks show, others are planning to make their own fireworks.

The familiar Homer and Mary Kelly come down from Cambridge, Massachusetts at the invitation of a friend who offers them a free place to stay. A former student, Fern Fisher, is working on a new biography of Jefferson to help improve his reputation despite having been a slave holder and having possibly had sexual relations with one of his slaves, who was the half-sister of his deceased wife. Augustus Upchurch, a local benefactor of Jefferson studies, has helped raise the money to fund the book, but also becomes interested in Ms. Fisher despite the wide difference in their ages. Ms. Fisher sees apparitions of Jefferson in and around Monticello. Tom Dean, a local man who is about to enter medical school, is fascinated by Lewis and Clark, and through this meets Ms. Fisher and extends his interests to include her. The local police chief owns the Oxford English Dictionary and spends his free time looking up what the words in the Declaration of Independence meant in Jeffersons time. The serial killer imagines himself being related to one of the men in the Lewis and Clark expedition, based on having been raised on the Missouri River in Bismarck, North Dakota. Homer Kelly starts reading up on Lewis and Clark. Each chapter begins with a quote from the expeditions journals.

Like all Homer and Mary Kelly stories, theres not much mystery here. There are simply tangled skeins of lives and story lines that overlap. The individual stories are more of an excuse to delve into a particular period of history than serious fiction. Being quite familiar with Jefferson and the Lewis and Clark expedition, the only new knowledge that the book imparted were more details than I wanted to know about the sexual habits of the men on the expedition.

The overall theme of Murder at Monticello is that obsessions are bad for us, because they blind us to more positive opportunities to connect with others and more meaningful activities.

Unless you feel a compulsive need to read all of these stories by Ms. Langton, I suggest you skip this one. Of her recent efforts, I thought that Dead as a Dodo was far superior to Murder at Monticello. The ideas developed in that book about Darwin are far more interesting than the slim intellectual foundation of Murder at Monticello.

I do like Ms. Langtons new habit of taking the Kellys to new locations outside of Massachusetts. I hope Ms. Langton continues this trend in her upcoming novels.

Search for the opportunities to expand goodness, and then act on them!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Homer Kelly arrives during Virginia's serial killer season, March 18, 2001

By 

Corinne H. Smith (Athol, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Murder at Monticello (A Homer Kelly Mystery) (Hardcover)

There's a demented serial killer attacking women in Charlottesville, Virginia. But the timing coincides with the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's election to the presidency, and a huge celebration is planned to take place at Monticello on July 4th. Amidst both hubbubs, Homer and Mary Kelly arrive on the scene to visit friends in the area. Homer is naturally intrigued and wants to "help" the local police chief with the murder investigations. Prepare yourself for fast-break reading! Will Homer be able to nail the right man? Will a former med student finish work on his Lewis and Clark timeline in the Dome Room? Will a former student of the Kellys ever finish writing her grant-funded book about Thomas Jefferson? And what exactly is the relationship between the Lewis and Clark expedition and the man who buries bloody shirts in his backyard?

If you feel yourself wanting more, more, MORE! after finishing this book, move on to any Rita Mae / Sneaky Pie Brown mystery, or pick up _Guns and Roses_ by Taffy Cannon. The histories and the mysteries continue...