March 1, 1988
Within the palatial walls of Boston's Gardner Museum, paintings by Botticelli and Titian shed artistic light on a hodgepodge of lesser collectibles, all forever fixed in place as decreed by the inflexible terms of Isabella Stewart Gardner's will, which demands that the whole collection be auctioned off should any changes or unwelcome disturbances occur. The museum's very boyish director, Titus Moon, turns a blind eye to such pranks as tadpoles in the courtyard fountain and ghostly music in the galleries, but even he is appalled when a particularly awful benefactor meets an untimely end. Langton (Good and Dead) tucks her tongue firmly in cheek before treating readers to a wild and wholly enjoyable ride on the trail of the dangerous trickster. Although a bit light on motive and suspense, this exceedingly charming mystery more than makes up its weight in laughs called down upon the antics of one hapless character after the nextexuberant Polly, who gallumphs through cataloguing chores, wise and wily Catherine Rule, and the ubiquitous Mrs. Garboyle, who seems to be running Boston single-handedly from her basement apartment. Elegant line drawings by the author accompany the text.