The Deserter
Murder at Gettysburg
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Gettysburg deserter or Civil War hero? Scholar/sleuth Homer Kelly and his wife, Mary, solve the mystery of her great-great-grandfather in this "clever" novel (Booklist).
Homer and Mary Kelly have wandered through Harvard University's Memorial Hall dozens of times, but never have they lingered over the long list of alumni who died for the Union during the Civil War. One afternoon, the setting sun casts its light on the name of Seth Morgan, Mary's disgraced great-great-grandfather. She knows little of her ancestor's life, for family lore holds that he was a deserter, and a blight on the Morgan name. But as she and her husband dig into the dead man's story, they find something astonishing.
The mystery deepens as the story shifts from past to present. Even in 1863 it was difficult to know just what happened on the blood-soaked fields of Gettysburg, but no matter what it takes, Homer and Mary will find truth, and restore the honor of a man who died fighting for his country.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Civil War buffs will especially appreciate Langton's 17th Homer Kelly mystery (after 2002's The Escher Twist), in which the Harvard professor/sleuth and his wife, Mary, plunge into research in an effort to exonerate Seth Morgan, Mary's great-great-grandfather, a Harvard man suspected of desertion at Gettysburg. In 1863, in the battle's aftermath, Seth's pregnant wife, Ida, an independent and hardy New Englander, desperately seeks her missing husband as far as Baltimore and Washington. Meanwhile, Seth's comrade-in-arms Otis Pike, "the witty darling of his class at Harvard," provides some comic relief with his tendency to skedaddle and his scandalous involvement with actress Lily LeBeau. Homer realizes that the key to the mystery of Mary's ancestor's seemingly shameful action lies in ascertaining the particulars of Seth's relationship to Otis. The suspense builds as the author adroitly shifts between past and present. Period photos, an 1860 playbill for the Hasty Pudding show, quotations from Walt Whitman and loads of Harvard lore add historical weight. Fans of this generally lighthearted series, though, should be prepared for some graphic description of the horrors of war.
