This is another of the better Homer Kelly mysteries from Jane Langton. The story is set in Back Bay, Boston, in a fictional church and has as much to do with murder as with church organs. An organ builder is going in to work on rebuilding an organ that has been damaged by fire. On the way, he finds a baby crawling up the steps! He determines that the baby came from an apartment next door, and there the mystery starts. The parents are missing; father is dead, but where is mother? At the same time, the organist takes a hastily arranged leave of absence and doesn't appear again till near the end of the book. In the meantime, the organ builder, Alan Starr is appointed substitute, much to the chagrin of the underemployed organists in Boston who have applied for the job. Meanwhile, Alan Starr is on a mission to find the mother, another Boston organist. Along the way he also finds one of the former greats of the organ world, Bob Oates, who is an alcoholic. He decides to rehabilitate him, and when organs at other Boston churches are mysteriously vandalized, Oates is blamed. Homer Kelly seems connected to everyone in Boston, and he gets called to help find the missing mother, and find out who is vandalizing the organs. There is quite a lot going on here, but because it is a cozy mystery, only the bad people die, and the good people have lives put back into order by the end.

Besides learning about organs, the book also explains how the Back Bay was created from land filled in, and the buildings are anchored by huge timbers that must be kept wet at all times or they will turn to dust and the buildings above them will crumble. This issue will also factor into the story.

All in all, an enjoyable read, well written. ( )

Alan Starr has been commissioned to install the new organ and "voice" it for the Church of the Commonwealth in Boston's Back Bay after a fire. He finds a baby on the church steps and discovers the door has been left open in the apartment building next door. He discovers blood on the floor and finds evidence that the apartment belongs to an organist who studied under the same organist he did. He is determined to find her and calls in Homer Kelly for help. Circumstantial evidence suggests she is dead, but things aren't adding up. Langton has written a cozy mystery that is a cut above most others. Her characters are well-developed. I learned much about organs and the categories of pipes in this work. I loved the Back Bay setting as it is an area of Boston with which I'm very familiar. This is a cozy mystery with a lot of layers. There is so much more to the story than the main plot line. Highly recommended. ( )