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The Oxford Murders
The Oxford Murders is no doubt a page-turner, but where is the depth of thought, the metaphysical insight that distinguishes Borges’ work? However, most readers won’t even miss all that, so fascinating is the plot and the characters. No wonder the book is being made into a film, starring John Hurt and Elijah Wood, scheduled for release in January next year. The narrator — a stand-in for the author himself — is a mathematics graduate from the University of Buenos Aires who arrives in Oxfordshire on a scholarship. Barely a fortnight later, his elderly landlady — a professor’s widow — is found murdered. Arthur Seldom, a renowned mathematician, claims receiving a note which says that the murder is "the first in the series", with a black circle drawn under the words. Seldom hypothesises that this is the first symbol of a logical series. Another killing and another symbol strengthens the suspicion that the perpetrator wants Seldom to take up the gauntlet and predict what the next figure (and victim) would be. Among the suspects are a Russian student who bears an old grudge against Seldom, and a hospital nurse so hooked on crime novels that she might commit murder just for kicks. While Dan Brown took a rollicking ride on the shoulders of Da Vinci, Martinez piggybacks on Pythagoras. Then there are Ockham’s Razor, Godel’s theorem and Fermat’s last theorem thrown in to spice up the cerebral brew. The plot has enough red herrings to fill a fish tank (its resolution turns the whole thing on its head). An interesting aside is the Argentinian narrator’s observation of English culture. Cricket is an unfathomable mystery for him. "For several minutes I thought I was witnessing the preparatory stages before the game, or else a series of failed attempts to start. But then I heard enthusiastic applause...I’d obviously missed a wonderful piece of play." Still, this is easily the most innocuous of all the immaculate deceptions he has to contend with. Step inside this labyrinth, and find out how crooked a straight line can be.
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A labyrinth in the form of
a straight line, along which "so many philosophers have lost
themselves..." This paradox figures in Death and the Compass,
a mock-intellectual murder mystery crafted by Argentinian master Jorge
Luis Borges over half a century ago. From the literary icon’s homeland
comes Guillermo Martinez, whose novel follows the tricky path laid out
in the classic short story.