The Book of Murder

Back in 2005 I read a book called The Oxford Murders which was a perfectly enjoyable thriller set in Oxford around mathematics and murders by Argentinian author Guillermo Martinez.

In the meantime, it's been made into a film which I've not seen, and wasn't exactly well reviewed.

Now comes The Book of Murder, which is another tale quickly told. Told from the viewpoint of a unnamed, sometime novelist, and old aquaintance, Luciana, makes contact with him to tell him an unlikely story. Another, very successful novelist, Kloster, is murdering her family. And nobody will believe her.

The set-up is pretty good, but sadly the story doesn't really go anywhere, and as you dash through the 200 or so pages, you begin to realise just that.

Martinez paints a pretty good picture of a bitter Argentianian literary society that you feel he's probably well aware of. Has he experienced some of the success that Kloster has experienced - you don't get all that many Argentinian authors translated into English after all.

He also tries to inject some maths into this, with some discussions on the nature of chance, but it feels a little worked upon.

The Book of Murder is a perfectlty fine tale, but you might find yourself coming away from it a little underwhelmed.