Jane Langton Books

When Harvard's Memorial Hall is bombed, the shattering of its huge rose windows resounds throughout the campus; but when a corpulent and headless corpse is found amid the debris, and the big, beloved chorus leader, Hamilton Dow, cannot be located, more than the peace and quiet of an illustrious university is disturbed. Is the corpse that of the missing conductor?

It all started when Georgie, hardly more than a wisp of thistledown, discovered she could jump down twelve steps in two big graceful bounds. Next, to her great delight, she learned that jumping from the porch and floating as high as the rooftop was possible too. So when the mysterious Canada goose came to her window one night it seemed only natural to climb onto his back and go off with him to learn how to really fly.Jane Langton spins a marvelous fantasy that wild delight all who dream that someday, somehow, we will magically find ourselves aloft and suddenly able to fly!

As part-time detective Homer Kelly sets off on his search for answers to the death of a young priest, who left nothing behind but an inauspicious and cryptic note, he finds a crime far more sinister and troubling. Reprint.

The seductive city of Venice has lured Homer Kelly to a rare books conference, and wife Mary has eagerly come along, camera in tow. Upon arrival they find their Venetian host, Sam Bell, reveling in an examination of holy relics entrusted to him by the new Procurator of Saint Mark's, Lucia Costanza. Sam is convinced they are fraudulent. (He may be surprised.). But soon the Kellys' tranquil getaway turns into a life-and-death adventure, when Lucia's soon-to-be ex-husband is killed and Lucia disappears, branding herself the prime suspect. Bucolic Venice begins to look more and more sinister as Sam's borrowed relics disappear one by one and his motherless little daughter, Ursula, begins to behave in a most unusual way. The plot thickens with the help of Mary's simple snapshots of jade-green canals, the Rialto Bridge, the Piazza San Marco, the ancient Ghetto, and churches, palaces, and squares in every remote corner of the city. Before long she is in danger, pursued across a maze of ancient bridges while the lagoon overflows and floods the streets. In the end there is a miracle - could it possibly be real? - and a treasure is uncovered, painfully recalling the fate of Venetian Jews in World War II.

Homer Kelly returns to help his wife's niece, Annie Swann, who has gained success as a children's book illustrator. Annie has built a fabulous addition to her house and is renting out the old section. Part of her new area is a 35-foot wall, on which Annie plans to paint her masterpiece. However, a mysterious face keeps appearing -- no matter how often Annie paints it out. One day, Annie returns home to find her tenants' handicapped son apparently crushed by her scaffolding. When her tenants sue Annie and threaten her with the loss of her home, Homer Kelly steps in to unravel the mystery. He encounters greedy land developers and a sociopathic child in his attempts to salvage Annie's dream. Written with the author's usual clever style and inimitable humor, this 13th book is a lucky addition to the Homer Kelly series. —Sue Reider