Oofdah.
Let me start with this: I love Jane Langton's Homer Kelly mysteries--this is certainly not my first one. This was my first time listening to one on audiobook, which I'll address in a bit. The book itself was written in 1984, and that may explain the archaic use of the word "oriental" and it might even explain (not excuse) the sort of stereotypical portrayal of Winnie Gaw as the fat girl who eats her feelings. A stereotype would be annoying, but it is the utter and inexplicable fixation on fat-shaming as a source of humor that is really obnoxious here. Langton relies on a certain amount of parody in general, and there are the usual suspects: all variety of academics--the bumbling, the pompous, the sketchy--, and then there is the ingenue (of sorts) in Allison. Presumably Langton was going for some sort of overblown contrast between the two characters, but it does not land well. Really, it is to the point of distraction. In reading other reviews, I know it isn't just because I was listening to it on audiobook.

It is a real shame because there are several other elements of Langton's wonderful mystery at play--the tangled web of surprise connections, the subtler humor (e.g. Homer Kelly's "gourmet" meals for Owen Kraznik), and of course the historical/New England connections and peppering of Dickinson's poetry. The audio book, if I had to guess, was also recorded for "Books on Tape" back in the day (and I was alive then, so I'm not making assumptions about the 80s), so presumably folks might have found Derek Perkins' fake Japanese accent less offensive. Aside from that, however, Perkins reads the book well, subtly imbuing most characters with individual personas, but not to the point of farce.

Did I like aspects of the book? Absolutely--it has the cozy mystery aspect that I was looking for, but the misogynistic bigotry made it a sour read, sadly. ( )

Amherst, Massachusetts is a quiet college town, but during the Emily Dickinson Centennial Symposium it was quite another vibe.

The symposium was to bring recognition to Amherst and Emily Dickinson, along with money. There would be lecture by well-known authorities of Dickinson’s life and writings, special tours of the Dickinson Homestead, slide shows, readings, the works! Unexpectedly there were other events that also came along.

In the early planning stages there was the fire at Coolidge Hall and the loss of two students’ lives. During the symposium another student went missing but later turned up in an unexpected manner. There was vandalism of Emily Dickinson’s bed chamber, the near death experience of Professor Krasnik and Dr. Oak, and the attempted takeover of the Dickinson Homestead by women of A.W.E.D.

Luckily a current Harvard professor, attending the symposium, is a former Boston detective and is glad to step in and try to make sense of what all is happening.

The characters all have their quirks and there are laughs to be had, while reading this book. There are also pen and ink drawings, scattered through the book, of places in the story. Seems life isn’t so stuffy in a college town… ( )

I can't give it 5 stars, because its appeal will be less if you don't live in Hampshire County ( )

Author Jane Langton (born in December 1922) didn't come to mystery novels in any traditional sort of way. She studied astronomy at Wellesley College and the University of Michigan and received graduate degrees in art history at the University of Michigan and Radcliffe College. But turn to writing, she did, in 1962, penning YA novels (her book The Fledgling is a Newbery Honor book) and 18 adult mysteries which won her Bouchercon's 2000 Lifetime Achievement Award.

All of her mysteries focus on the same two protagonists, Homer Kelly, a distinguished Thoreau scholar and ex-lieutenant detective for Middlesex County, and his wife Mary. As the author herself said, "Mary is the sensible one, but I confess I like Homer's rhapsodic flights of fancy." Most of the settings are in the author's own state of Massachusetts, although she's also sent them to more exotic places like Florence, Oxford and Venice.

Her 1984 Homer Kelly novel, Emily Dickinson is Dead was nominated for an Edgar Award and received a Nero Award that year. It was inspired, no doubt, by the author's own interest in Dickinson, having written a text about the poet for the collection Acts of Light. The action in Langton's novel takes place at a symposium celebrating the 100th anniversary of the death of poet Emily Dickinson, where one attendee disappears and another is found murdered in the poet's former bedroom.

Langton's trademarks are all here in the novel, her memorable and descriptive settings, eccentric characters, a sly humor that pokes fun at the pompous academics and Amherst townsfolk alike. As the New York Times Book Review added, "Miss Langton is a sensitive and even elegant writer, one who deals with literate, intelligent people..."

Homer Kelly is more of a peripheral figure in this particular novel, but he sums up the essence of his philosophy—and probably that of the author—and the book quite nicely: " Homer Kelly, too, was enchanted with the afternoon. It wasn't the justice of the women's cause that had diverted him; it was the everlasting melodrama of human souls in conflict. It was the handfuls of gritty sand that were forever being sprinkled into the machinery of daily life, grinding the ill-fitting cogs against each other, warping the sprockets, jamming the mismatched teeth. It was always so fascinating, the way people went right on being so outrageously themselves, and therefore so eternally interesting."

Although not so much a mystery as a wry study of human hubris and self-delusion, the book's character studies, snippets of poetry, Langton's illustrations, and even some details about the workings of dams and reservoirs, make Emily Dickinson is Dead is an entertaining read. ( )

I enjoyed the setting and descriptions, but most of the characters were caricatures, except for Owen and Ellen. The interspersion of Emily Dickinson poems bumped up the rating from two to three stars. ( )