Remember those old graybeard poets from American Literature class? Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote "Hiawatha" and "Paul Revere's Ride." Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote "Old Ironsides" and "The Chambered Nautilus." James Russell Lowell wrote "The Vision of Sir Launfall" and was the editor of The Atlantic Monthly. These writers come to life again as characters and sleuths in Matthew Pearl's unique first novel, The Dante Club.

In 1865 Boston, with the Civil War just ended, Longfellow has launched a major project, the translation into English of Dante's The Divine Comedy. Assisting him and forming "The Dante Club" are Holmes, Lowell, historian George Washington Greene, and publisher J. T. Fields.

The leaders at Harvard University, where several of these men teach, oppose this translation as a threat to Protestant morality. Then the killings start. Members of Boston society begin to be murdered in ghoulish ways that imitate punishments in Dante's Inferno. For instance, one victim is eaten alive by flies and maggots. Another is buried upside down with his feet on fire. The Dante Club recognizes the similarities and members set out to find their "Lucifer" before they themselves are blamed for the crimes. Thus begins the search for another Dante scholar and the answer to what has driven him to this cruel vendetta against his victims.

Improbable, yes, but that is one of the main attractions for the reader. Matthew Pearl has thoroughly researched the lives of the writers, their families, personalities, and lifestyles. He is also a Dante scholar, having won the prestigious Dante Prize from the Dante Society of America while still a student at Harvard. The combination of this learning with imagination and a deft sense of plotting results in an unusual reading experience.

And for another treat, Matthew Pearl's second novel, The Poe Shadow, traces the final days of Edgar Allan Poe's life and speculates as to the events leading to his death. Readers who enjoy literary mysteries are sure to love both books.