THE MEMORIAL HALL MURDER

Langton's juvenile-author manner hangs around this silly but fairly stylish murder-comedy—especially in the nonstop folksy jabber of her detective, ex-cop Homer Kelly. Kelly and wife Mary are now visiting profs at Harvard, where a fat, headless body is found after a bomb explodes in historic, hideous Memorial Hall. Obviously the body of fat choirmaster Ham Dow, thinks everyone, until they examine the body's hands—no calluses from cello-playing! Actually Ham is buried alive in the Hall basement, banging out the Hallelujah Chorus on the pipes to get some attention before he starves to death. And who's responsible for this state of affairs? None other than Harvard's President Cheever—Derek Bok has gone to the Supreme Court (ha!)—the unlikeliest, most obviously guilty Ivy Leaguer of the year. The 1960ish students aren't much more convincing, but Langton has done enough Harvard Yard research to endear her to nostalgic alumni—and if any mystery with a headless corpse can be sweet, this is it.