Matthew Pearl: The Dante Club

Matthew Pearl is a shining example of how to make take one's scholarly research, parley it into a mystery novel, and make actual money out of it. Not everyone can do this; for one thing, his prose style is outstanding. However, on his way to producing an edition of Longfellow's translation of the Inferno, Pearl crafted a delightful mystery about the group of literati--Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., James Russell Lowell, and the American publisher J.T. Fields--who assisted Longfellow with his work. As they work on their translation, in the novel, a series of murders occur and they realize that the killer is modelling his victem's deaths on the Inferno. But who, other than they themselves, could know Dante well enough to do this?

Pearl's novel, The Dante Club (not to be confused with Arturo Perez Reverte's The Club Dumas), has several elements that recommended it to me: it centers on books, it blends the historical and the fictional, and it is one of those mysteries where knowing about medieval literature adds to one's enjoyment. My favorite mysteries are often those that involve a paper-chase, so I tracked this one down as soon as I saw it in Book Page.

I wasn't disappointed. In fact, this book's standout feature isn't any of those qualities that led me to purchase it, but rather the deft way Pearl takes these giants of American literature and makes them real characters. They squabble, make up, have flaws and overcome them, and in short they develop in the novel--without it ever seeming obnoxious or contrived to readers who know about the historical people. Pearl's handling of Holmes, in particular, is an affectionate look at an imperfect man and how he learns to act decisively and courageously (and for you lawyers out there, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. also appears in the book as a minor character, and is also handled well). By the end, Holmes Sr. has changed the most and is perhaps the readers' favorite character. The Dante Club's extraordinarily deft job with achieving a balance between a well-crafted collection of characters and the demands of historical accuracy is all the more striking because it is a first novel; I look forward to seeing what Pearl comes up with for an encore.

Pearl's edition of Longfellow's translation of Dante has also been printed, and his publisher had the savvy to design a cover that resembles the cover of the novel. I found that amusing.

Hey, while you're settling down by the fire to read a mystery about a translation of an Italian poem, why not munch on some wonderful Italian food? This is one of my favorites from Rachael Ray: Veal Ragu. Hey, when you've got a good book to read, who wants to spend too long over dinner?

Feel free to leave a comment on the Dante Club, Italian food, or historical mysteries!