The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

 

Four of Boston's leading intellectuals are working on the first English translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy.  They are Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes and J. T. Fields.  Lowell and Holmes are both teaching at the university while Fields will be the publisher of the work when it is finished.  There are those who oppose their work; the head of finances at the university wants it stopped as he thinks Dante is immoral and is doing what he can to insure it never sees the light of day.

The four men think that is their only barrier but not so.  Murders start to occur and each mimics one of the horrible torments of hell that Dante writes about.  When the men realize that the murderer is taking Dante as his inspiration, they are determined to find and stop him before he kills again.  They are assisted by the first black policeman in Boston who brings the normal police procedures and resources to the investigation while the other men bring their knowledge and inspiration.  Can they discover the killer and stop him?

Matthew Pearl has degrees from Harvard and Yale Law School.  His works tend to have literary themes, usually with a mystery imbedded and feature literary figures who take up detection as a sideline.  This book was a bestseller and he followed it up fifteen years later with The Dante Chamber.  Readers will learn about the history of Harvard as well as more about famous literary figures.  This book is recommended for both mystery and literary fiction readers.