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Rating: 
Summary: The Many Consequences of Obsessions
Review: 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 Jefferson�s life or of the Lewis and Clark expedition into the newly purchased Louisiana Territory. A July 4th celebration of the bicentennial year of Jefferson�s 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 Jefferson�s 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 expedition�s journals. Like all Homer and Mary Kelly stories, there�s 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. Langton�s 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!
Rating:
Summary: The Many Consequences of Obsessions
Review: 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 Jefferson's life or of the Lewis and Clark expedition into the newly purchased Louisiana Territory. A July 4th celebration of the bicentennial year of Jefferson's 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 Jefferson's 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 expedition's journals. Like all Homer and Mary Kelly stories, there's 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. Langton's 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!
Rating: 
Summary: Another Twist in the Tale
Review: I am always impressed by the ability Jane Langton shows in each of her books to encompass varying subject matters in such details. This book uses the expedition of Lewis & Clark to intertwine various lives and loves. As usual with Homer Kelly books, the reader knows the culprit, or at least knows who did NOT do the crime(s). This book contains some rather brutal murders, although the subject is handled in the usual Langton finesse. Homer and Mary do not figure so very much in this episode, with much of the action centering on guest characters. It is, as always, well-written, and, also as always, the pencil drawings by the author add to the enjoyment of reading this book. All in all, this is a fine addition to the series and I am looking forward to reading the next.
Rating:
Summary: Another Twist in the Tale
Review: I am always impressed by the ability Jane Langton shows in each of her books to encompass varying subject matters in such details. This book uses the expedition of Lewis & Clark to intertwine various lives and loves. As usual with Homer Kelly books, the reader knows the culprit, or at least knows who did NOT do the crime(s). This book contains some rather brutal murders, although the subject is handled in the usual Langton finesse. Homer and Mary do not figure so very much in this episode, with much of the action centering on guest characters. It is, as always, well-written, and, also as always, the pencil drawings by the author add to the enjoyment of reading this book. All in all, this is a fine addition to the series and I am looking forward to reading the next.
Rating:
Summary: Murder at Monticello Review By Falynne Kagy
Review: Jane Langton has once again provided us with another gripping Homer Kelly Mystery. This, the fifteenth in the Homer Kelly series, is by far the best one that I have read. It has all of the twists and turns that you'd expect from Langton. Fern Fisher, an overweight, personality-challenged woman in her mid-twenties serves as the main character. Her purpose in the nocel is to write a book for the Thomas Jefferson of Monticello Society, which will clear all of the hurtfull rumors of the late President's affair with Sally Hemings and his views about slavery. The supporting characters include Tom Dean, a man caught trespassing in the woods surrounding the home of our third President, and George Dryer, a demented serial killer who is out to get revenge on all women who remind him of his ex-girlfriend, Jeannie. The book is very well written, and leaves the reader hanging on to the edge of their seat, waiting to see who the next victim will be, or if Dryer can be caught in time by Homer and the Charlottesville, Virginia Police Chief. The book was ordinary in the sense that it was very predictable when it came to the murder case. I knew before I even read that Fern was going to be one of the last people that George would try to kill, and that, most likely, he would not succeed. I would reccomend this book to any reader who likes the classic murder mystery, and has the time to read the book in a short amount of time, as it becomes confusing the longer you wait between reading sessions.
Rating:
Summary: 2 1/2* Very Disappointed
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: 2 1/2* Very Disappointed
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Homer Kelly arrives during Virginia's serial killer season
Review: 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...
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