The Memorial Hall Murder by Jane Langton

This book was written (and set) in the 70s. The story takes place at Harvard University. Visiting professor and retired policeman Homer Kelly unravels the mystery of the Memorial Hall bombing and the disappearance of a popular faculty member, musician and chorus leader Hamilton Dow.

This was one of those books where you know who the bad guy is just because you can't stand him! When I read mysteries I often look for the character that the author makes me hate. If there is a stand-out unlikeable guy, he will often end up being the murderer. If I can identify the murderer right away like this, then the story better be entertaining enough to make the book fun to read even though the mystery is a bit transparent. This book was interesting and I really liked the characters. But! It wasn't quite captivating enough to overcome the transparency of the mystery, although what created very readable tension in this book was the uncertain fate of the man trapped in the dark. Who is he? Will he survive? And I can't deny that it's very satisfying when the hated character turns out to be the bad guy and comes to a suitably bad ending.

There was a lot of detail about Cambridge the town and Harvard the university. I did get a good sense of the atmosphere surrounding Memorial Hall and the university in general. I didn't get a clear vision of it at all, but I did get a "sense" of it, if you know what I mean when I differentiate the two. I also felt very much in the 70's as I read the book. That was kind of cool. I enjoyed the illustrations--by the author herself! I also liked how alternate chapters told two different parts of the story--I was caught up in whether or not our trapped character would be rescued! Well, I knew he would be, but when?!

So, it was fun to read, but not at all gripping. I probably won't read more by this author, although I did really like our detective, Homer Kelly. He didn't seem to do a whole lot of detecting. The whole mystery was unraveled almost by accident! But he was very likeable and so was his wife. They aren't as well developed characters as some detectives are, but they are both charming and easy-going and comfortable. It was a cute book.