DESERTER: MURDER AT GETTYSBURG (Jane Langton)

Jane Langton's Homer and Mary Kelly mysteries are always delightful reading. Homer, a (now) retired professor and Mary, a librarian/scholar, married later in life and enjoy a mutual love of historical and literary research. Though somewhat advanced in years, both are active, young at heart, and always ready to tackle an interesting mystery. Homer and Mary are based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but research pursuits and personal interests often take them farther afield, affording Langton the opportunity to introduce the reader to details of various historical and cultural venues.

In this excellent novel the couple travels to Mary's family homestead in Concord, MA in pursuit of information on Mary's great-great grandfather Seth Morgan, a Harvard graduate whose mysterious disappearance during the battle of Gettysburg has piqued their interest. Their research takes them to the battlefields of Gettysburg by way of Harvard University's research libraries and memorial collections. The reader is treated to a dual storyline: while Homer and Mary follow clues hoping to shed some light on Seth's fate, we also follow the stories of Private Otis Pike, reportedly killed at Gettysburg, and of Seth's wife Ida, who travels to the battlefields in search of her husband despite her advanced pregnancy. Langton's historical research is superb and Homer and Mary are, as always, comfortable and humorous companions on our journey to the story's resolution. Langton's use of Civil War era photographs throughout the book make reading it an especially interesting and somehow more personal experience. Be prepared for a surprise at the end!