In early January 1969, Harvard graduate student Jane Britton, after not showing up for crucial exams, was discovered dead in her apartment. Jane was part of the close-knit and competitive anthropology program, and because she was an independent, strong young woman, her murder became the stuff of salacious rumors that spread for almost 50 years before the case was finally closed.

As an undergrad at Harvard in 2009, Becky Cooper heard about Jane and the idea that she had been murdered by her professor, who was still teaching at Harvard. Was she really killed by a secret lover? A jealous colleague? Why was the case allowed to limp along for so long before being solved? For 10 years Cooper obsessed over what could have happened, and her book, WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE, is as much a record of that obsession as it is a true-crime offering. She also delves into classism and sexism in academia, and the real-life thrills of archaeological discovery.

"Though the case had been cold for so very long, page by page it feels like [Cooper] is racing against the clock as central figures age and DNA evidence slips away."

Jane was a Radcliffe graduate and member of a wealthy and influential family. At Harvard she was known as an intriguing and compelling personality who challenged social and academic norms. Though she seemed to have many suitors, her heart belonged to fellow archaeologist Jim Humphries, to whom she had grown even closer on a dig in Iran under the leadership of Professor Karl Lamberg-Karlovsky. Lamberg-Karlovsky was a polarizing figure at Harvard, and the first time Cooper heard about Jane's murder, it came with the implication that he was the perpetrator and that perhaps Harvard had helped shield him from charges. Adding fuel to the fires of speculation were the seemingly ritualistic details of the crime scene: a deliberately placed headstone artifact and a pattern of red ochre.

Cooper spent years exploring the documents and files to which she had access. Most importantly, though, she interviewed key people who were involved --- from Jane's brother to the neighbor who discovered her body, from detectives to her fellow graduate students, and, most interestingly, a few who had been suspects in the investigation. 

At times, Jane slips from the center of WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE as Cooper’s own involvement and responses come to the fore. She returns to Harvard, working on the campus where Jane spent her last days, and works on an archaeological dig in Bulgaria, imagining the similarities between Jane's experiences and her own. She even shares the details of her romantic relationships as she examines Jane's affairs beyond even the scope of the case. All of this brings her close to Jane and threatens, she admits, her objectivity at times. She chases whispers as much as evidence, and the result is a sweeping narrative that combines investigative journalism, memoir and social commentary with true crime. Cooper’s writing is solid and her pacing adept throughout. This is a tragic yet engaging book, by turns insightful and frustrating.

WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE revolves around a horrific crime but is also about storytelling and mythmaking, and when one becomes the other. Many of the characters here, including Cooper herself, are quite aware of how truths get stretched and the human tendency to mythologize. Though the case had been cold for so very long, page by page it feels like she is racing against the clock as central figures age and DNA evidence slips away. As this happens, Cooper grows into her writing career and does her best to do right by Jane.