Murder At Monticello
This novel, Langton’s latest Homer Kelly mystery, is set in Charlottesville, Virginia as preparations are underway for the 200th anniversary celebration of the election of Thomas Jefferson. Fern Fisher, a former student of Kelly, is ensconced in Monticello’s Dome Room immersed in research on Jefferson for a book that, hopefully, will restore his dignity in the face of attacks based on Sally Hemings and slavery. Add to this mix a red- headed serial killer, a young man who is discovered illegally camped in the woods behind Monticello, and Augustus Upchurch, the elderly president of Jefferson Studies and proverbial ‘dirty old man’ who has targeted young Fern for his amorous attentions — and you have a page turner that culminates as the serial killer sets his sites on Fern. Langton’s lovely line drawings of Monticello and excerpts from the Lewis and Clark journals are an added treat.
