The Oxford Murders
Authors:
Guillermo Martinez
Translated by Sonia Soto
Retail Price (Softback): £7.99
Retail Price (Ebook):
ISBN: 978-0-349-11723
First Published:
Description:
What it says on the cover
Using rules and axioms, there will always be some propositions that can't be proved either true or false. But can this apply to murder.
Godel's Theorem of Incompleteness is familiar territory to the young South American mathematician who arrives in Oxford. Murder, however, is not. Yet no long after he has greeted his elderly landlady - and her rather luscious granddaughter - he is bidding her a posthumous farewell. Mrs Egleton is found lying dead on a chaise longue, her eyes wide open in terror. The only clue to the crime is a cryptic symbol and the words of the first series.
It's not much to go on, but it is enough to appeal to Arthur Seldom, one of the leading minds in logic. His most famous work of philosophy contains a chapter on serial killers. This killer clearly has read it. And the second murder of an elderly hospital patient, confirms that his methods of killing are deliberately designed to appeal to mathematicians. And that he's an intellectual megalomaniac...
Abacus
Your Opinions and Comments
The title, which indicated the promise of the atmosphere of the busy university town which I have stayed in many times. Secondly the possibility of the intellectual challenge of Godel's Incompleteness Theorem (I enjoyed maths at school and university).
I checked out Google and Wikipedia to satisfy myself that there was indeed such a theorem. There is.
Then I read the book. It was a disappointment. Little plot, little character development and not much about Oxford.