Customer Reviews

The Oxford Murders

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I generally don't go in for murder mysteries--unless they are set in Oxford of course. This "who done it" is quite unique, since it is written by an Argentinian mathematician and incorporates a bit of mathematical concepts and jargon into the storyline. The story is every bit as challenging as any mystery with which I am familiar. For those conversant with Oxford, you will encounter many familiar locales, and the author has done his homework in scoping out the city and surrounding environs. The fact that the central character is an Argentinian graduate student in mathematics confronted not only with serial murders but with a strange country and its unique culture as well only adds richness to the narrative. The book reads smoothly and quickly (it is 196 moderate-sized pages), and the American edition is beautifully done. A most pleasant excursion into math and murder.

Martinez's THE OXFORD MURDERS brings the reader into two rarefied worlds -- high-level mathematical theory and Oxford University. Don't be intimidated by the mathematical subtext; Martinez makes it quite understandable (said the reviewer who never went beyond geometry). Morever, he's dealing with some of the "sexier" aspects of math: codes, logic, and great mysteries like Fermat's Last Theorem. The mystery itself is creative, although somewhat blandly presented. The characters are interesting enough to make up for the standard narrative format. I would definitely read another Martinez mystery, especially if the setting is Oxford and the focus is math (or "maths," as they say in the UK)

I must admit: I never did figure out the meaning and/or next character in the code shown on the cover and mentioned in the book. Did anyone out there figure it out?

This quiet murder mystery set in Oxford, England around the time that Andrew Wiles revealed his proof of Fermat's Last Theorem mixes mathematics and smoke-and-mirrors "magic." A young Argentine math student arrives in Oxford and takes a room in the basement of an elderly woman's house. Before long, he and a famous mathematics don, Arthur Seldom, discover her lifeless body sprawled on the sofa. A small mistake by the murderer -- too much force when suffocating her -- shifts the death from perhaps natural to definite homicide. When the don reveals that he received a mysterious note in his cubby that led him to the house and that suggests this is only the first of many murders, the detective work begins, with the narrator and Seldom hashing out ideas about symbols, patterns, Godel's Incompleteness Theorem, the Pythagorean Society, Wittgenstein, and, of course, the solution of the "impossible," Fermat's Last Theorem. The introduction of a magician and his one-handed tricks connects the discussions of math with the truth.

While the ending is somewhat of a let-down, the book itself is entertaining, with its gentle insertion of the philosophy inherent in mathematics. Martinez's characters are not as developed as they could be, thus making it difficult to care about what happens to them, but his flowing style keeps everything moving. Those familiar with Oxford will delight in the setting, which Martinez evokes with frequent visits to the Eagle and Child (a nod to famous Oxford literary figures and minds), the various colleges, the Sheldonian Theatre, and other landmarks.

For some reason, I found myself comparing Guillermo Martinez's "The Oxford Murders" with Michael Dibdin's "Back to Bologna" -- both books are rather dissimilar in style and content, and really share only one thing in common: that theory (mathematical and philosophical ones in the case of "The Oxford Murders" as opposed to literary and semiotic theory in the case of "Back to Bologna") plays a big part in what goes on in both books, quite often at the expense of action and real crime solving. And I wondered why what irritated me so in "Back to Bologna" (the lack of real clues, suspects and a clear mystery plot) did not irritate me at all in "The Oxford Murders." I came to the conclusion that not only was "The Oxford Murders" more my cup of tea, but also that the author had, at least with this book, taken quite seriously the knowledge that he was writing a mystery novel. The book may lack real suspense and jaw dropping plot twists, but the clues and suspects are all there for the canny reader to "see" and to allow readers who enjoy it, to attempt to try and figure out what's going on along with the unnamed narrator, the young Argentinean mathematics scholar.

The plot is a very simple one: one summer a young Argentinean man arrives at Oxford, where he's received a scholarship to study for a year. The young man's expectations, aside from work, is to enjoy all that Oxford and England can offer him. Certainly the last thing he expects is to become embroiled in the murder investigation of his aged landlady (whom he finds smothered to death one afternoon) along with the world renowned mathematician he has always admired, Arthur Seldon. When another murder is committed and the indications are that it is connected to that of the young man's landlady, and that a whole string of similarly connected murders could follow, the young man and Seldon find themselves assisting the police in this race against time to stop a determined murderer with a yen for mathematics...

This is wonderfully understated but brilliantly absorbing read. The chapters are short but chatty, as Seldon lectures on one mathematical/philosophical theory or the other, but I did found myself totally involved and interested in what Seldon/the author was trying to impart. Kudos to Sonia Soto (I read the English translation) for doing such an excellent job of making this book accessible and a joy to read. What I really liked about this book though, aside from it's wonderfully vivid descriptions of Oxford, was that the clues were really all there. Halfway through the book, I had a suspicion of how things would pan out; and while much of what I suspected came to pass, I felt a little let down, however, that one piece vital information was never fully explained, even at the end. All in all, though, "The Oxford Murders" was a treat of a read, and perfect for those long winter nights, curled up in your favourite chair with that glass of sherry.

I bought this at 9:30 this morning, and finished it at 2 this afternoon. And I enjoyed it very much. It's not the best written book I have read by some distance, but is ingenious and deceitful in a most engaging manner. It is also one of the few books I have read which really does understand and make use of Wittgenstein's remarks in the Investigations about following rules. Oddly, I felt that Matinez's grasp of the implications of philosophy was stronger than his grasp of maths, which is strange since he holds a doctorate in the latter subject.

Although the characters are rather poorly drawn, I felt that their motivations (and actions) were excellent. I often found that I knew what people would be capabile of doing, but remained puzzled about whether they actually had. Martinez is smart enough to allow some things to be as they seem, but others not to be so.

I also very much enjoyed the puzzle on page 28 (M heart eight), and got great satisfaction out of cracking it. Judging by my son as an audience, it also makes a splendid trick using a whiteboard.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I found the resolution fully in line with the author's view of Wittgenstein's statements about rule following, and and pleasant and intelligent response to the more simplistic denouments of other, purportedly similar books I've read in the past couple of years.

A dozen years ago, a graduate of the University of Buenos Aires eagerly followed his scholarship money to Oxford to spend a year at the Mathematical Institute. As luck would have it, he found rooms to let in the home of widowed Mrs. Eagleton. All seemed to be going well in the first few weeks of his residency, but then his landlady turned up dead, murdered as she languished on her chaise lounge. The young student was the unfortunate discoverer of Mrs. Eagleton's body, along with the renowned logician Arthur Seldom, who showed up on the doorstep just as the student was ringing Mrs. Eagleton's doorbell. They summon the authorities.

Once the police arrive, Seldom recounts the delivery of a strange note to his cubbyhole at the Institute, stating "The first of the series" with a symbol and a time written on it. Seldom, naturally, tries to puzzle it out, attempting to discern what the next symbol might be if their dark suspicions are correct, for of course they all fear that a serial killer has just begun his deadly work. Before they are able to see the direction he may be going, another body and note show up --- "The second of the series." Seldom challenges the student to find the solution, even as he himself seems to harbor an inkling as to the logical next symbol. But even if they know the next in the series, how can they know to whom it will relate?

Inspector Peterson happily enlists Seldom's aid, along with that of the student. He asks, "Do you think this person is a mathematician?"

Seldom replies, "No, not necessarily...it could be a symbol from some esoteric cult, or ancient religion or something else entirely. An astrologer might have seen a full moon or...." The possibilities begin to seem innumerable, but as we know, with math involved, the answer will almost certainly be provable.

Then, when a third note is found at a concert where one of the performers dies on stage before a stunned audience, the police become convinced they are dealing with a highly cunning and exceptionally brilliant murderer. Inspector Peterson ratchets up the pressure on Seldom to figure out the next probable sign before the killer strikes again.

Unfortunately, they sit in numbed horror as the fourth in the series brings the awful truth to light. With the murderer exposed, they cannot help but wish that they had been able to stop it. But even with the explanation finally out, there is another astounding --- and surprising --- ending.

Written with an intelligent wit, THE OXFORD MURDERS adds up to a small book with a big punch.

--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers

A wonderful novel that takes you down mystifying, complex, formulas just to deliver a simple truth-- "Simplify, Simplify, Simplify!"-- the solution is right under your nose, just think simply!

One of the best detective novels I read since some time. If you loved the cryptology in "the Da Vinci Code" and the islands of explained symbols and characters across the path of the story-- you'll love this book. It tries to solve a series of "murders" using a mathematical theorem and the logic of a legendary prof in Logic and an aspiring student.

If you ever walked down the roads and old alleys of Oxford, it will give you a sweet sense of "Deja vu" as it describes the roads in a rather detailed way. Enjoy!

Readers who long for novels that test their ability to solve scientific or mathematical problems will love The Oxford Murders. For those of us who do not nurture an interest in nor possess a passing familiarity with Godels Incompleteness Theorem, Tarski's corollaries, or Ockham's Razor and Pythagorian triples some parts of the book may be an arduous read. I understand that it has been optioned and will be made into a movie with John Hurt (Elephant Man) as Arthur Seldom and Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins in LOTR) as the nameless Argentinean student so perhaps the scientific portions will be presented in a manner that will make them easier to view than they are to read.

If one removes all of the hypothesizing and mathematical theories, what you are left with is a pretty average whodunit. For all those who experienced a sort of scholarly rapture reading this tome, I say "enjoy my friends". As for myself, I found too many "convenient coincidences" and too many "dangling threads" to really call this a fine tapestry.

Guillermo Martinez effectively blends his knowledge of mathematics and his understanding of human nature in this superb novel. The Oxford Murders is narrated by a young mathematician at Oxford on a scholarship. One day shortly after arriving in England, and accompanied by his older and more accomplished colleague Arthur Seldom, he walks into a room containing the body of his murdered landlady. Thus starts an intricate sequence of events that build to a satisfying and surprising ending.

People are dying one by one, apparently as part of a killer's twisted duel of wits with Arthur Seldom, a respected logician whose own phrase "maximum uncertainty" best describes this story's unfolding. The Oxford Murders contains many familiar mystery elements: a mentor-mentee partnership, a tenacious police inspector, a handful of fascinating and mysterious women and men who are plausible suspects, and a rarified setting (Oxford) inhabited by members of a quirky subculture (academia). But Martinez's vision and careful crafting guarantees that his readers will experience pleasant surprises as each element eventually becomes something more than it first appeared to be.

In addition to the rich descriptions of the novel's physical places, Martinez gives each of his major characters a well-developed backstory into which he weaves subtle foreshadowing. Readers not only meet, for example, Inspector Peterson's daughter but also learn several pieces of important information from her conversation with the narrator and Arthur Seldom. We come to care about Beth, the landlady's niece, and Podorov, the embittered Russian mathematician, and Lorna, the nurse obsessed by crime, even as we try to decide which one might be a killer.

Martinez's story explores the difference between the truth and our conception of the truth, between selfish and sacrificial actions, and between the entertainment industry's typical conceptions of crime and the actual motives of many criminals. As a result, The Oxford Murders surely will leave its readers with a new understanding of the philosophical principle of Ockham's Razor.

In The Oxford Murders, Martinez has created a delightfully disturbing mystery that many readers (including me) literally will not put down until they finish it.

Armchair Interviews says: Highly recommended.

The book was short and a fun read. The author threw in mathematical theory, philosophy and history. There are several problems with the book but every British Whodunit has them. Character development was poor and I had a hard time caring about any of them. The book used red herrings and false endings to bad effect. The romance was okay. The "denouement" was fairly weak. Since it is a mystery, I won't divulge it. Needless to say I was disappointed.

The best part of the novel is the location at Oxford. The author wrote about the different locations. The mathematical philosophizing after a while became gibberish, but in the early parts of the book the philosophy and puzzles were entertaining.

In summary, I enjoyed the book more than I was disappointed in the ending.