Rarely has historical fiction, literary reference and murder mystery been fused so effortlessly. Pearl's novel, set in 1865 Boston, counts Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes and James Russell Lowell among its cast of characters, and tells the gripping tale of a murderer drawing inspiration from Dante's "Divine Comedy." Much more than a costumed potboiler, the book is the surprisingly confident first effort by a young Dante scholar.  (BOS12, $13.95)