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Poet Kitty Clark has waited her entire life to see a total eclipse of the sun. News of an impending eclipse thrills her until she learns it will be visible only from Nantucket, where her ex-lover Joe Green recently moved with his new wife. Unable to resist the astronomical lure, she flies from Boston and makes her way to an isolated lighthouse, hoping to avoid Joe. The eclipse itself is overwhelming; Kitty screams when the sun vanishes behind the dark blot of the moon. When the sun returns a show more few minutes later, Kitty is standing over the bloodied body of Mrs. Joe Green, claiming the moon did it. Transcendentalist scholar and former detective Homer Kelly agrees to defend the troubled young poet, but the more Kitty insists she is innocent, the crazier she appears. To clear her name he must discover who set her up, and what happened during the two minutes when the Nantucket sun disappeared. show lessTags
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A slightly disappointing mystery was fully redeemed in my eyes by the location and atmosphere.
A bizarre murder takes place during a solar eclipse. (Some issues with that, too.) But author Langton gives a tremendous amount of information on the biology of the island with its tides and wildlife. I grew up on Mass’s North Shore, and I was captivated by the immediacy of the descriptions.
I’d recommend this cautiously to those who love the northeast coast, and are mystery lovers as well.
A bizarre murder takes place during a solar eclipse. (Some issues with that, too.) But author Langton gives a tremendous amount of information on the biology of the island with its tides and wildlife. I grew up on Mass’s North Shore, and I was captivated by the immediacy of the descriptions.
I’d recommend this cautiously to those who love the northeast coast, and are mystery lovers as well.
[Dark Nantucket Noon] is the second in the Homer Kelly mystery series. I have realized that I like mysteries because I usually like the personality of the detectives and I like for my characters to have something to do. I am not really trying to solve the puzzle. In this one I really liked Kitty Clark the murder suspect. She is an eccentric poet with a loose grasp on reality at the best of times. The author tells you all about life on Nantucket Island past and present also about Herman Melville and Quakers.
I was terribly disappointed in Ms. Langton's work; I really expected to enjoy her mysteries. This one had the most ridiculous premise to begin with - which I could have forgiven - and a hole a mile wide in the murder itself - which I cannot. I don't think I'll be taking any more of her works out for test drives.
During the few minutes of darkness during a total eclipse of the sun, a young woman is murdered on Nantucket Island. Discovered standing over her is the poet & college professor Kitty Clark, spurned lover of the dead woman's husband. Will Homer Kelly be able to convince a jury of Kitty's innocence?
Probably this mystery only deserves 3* but being from Massachusetts, I loved all the details and the line drawings about Nantucket in the book.
Probably this mystery only deserves 3* but being from Massachusetts, I loved all the details and the line drawings about Nantucket in the book.
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747 works; 3 members
Author Information
34+ Works 8,929 Members
Jane Langton was born Jane Gillson in Belmont, Massachusetts on December 30, 1922. She received a bachelor's degree in art history in 1944 and a master's degree in art history in 1945 from the University of Michigan. She received a second master's degree in art history from Radcliffe College in 1948. She studied at the Boston Museum School from show more 1958 to 1959. Her writing career began with children's books. Her first book, The Majesty of Grace, was published in 1961. She illustrated several of her children's books. She wrote a young adult series entitled the Hall Family Chronicles. The fourth book in the series, The Fledgling, was a Newbery Honor book. She also wrote an adult mystery series entitled the Homer Kelly mysteries. The fifth book in the series, Emily Dickinson Is Dead, received a Nero Wolfe Award and an Edgar Award. In 2017, she received the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award for the series. She died from complications of a respiratory condition on December 22, 2018 at the age of 95. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Dark Nantucket Noon
- Original title
- Dark Nantucket Noon
- People/Characters
- Homer Kelly; Mary Kelly
- Important places
- Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA; Massachusetts, USA
- Epigraph
- "I'd strike the sun if it insulted me..."
Captain Ahab in Moby Dick - Dedication
- For Maryalice Thoma
- First words
- Below the little plane the water of Nantucket Sound slipped over itself, the gusty wind from the east rippling the surface in an endless rapid sparkling hastening succession of white-capped waves, while the larger waves below... (show all) them seemed motionless from the air, a geologic mold of ocean water.
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- ISBNs
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