The Interpretation of Murder - Jed Rubenfeld

Interpreting murders, minds and mysteries The Interpretation of Murder is the first novel from Jed Rubenfeld (see below) and was published in 2006. It won the Richard & Judy Book Club Best Read. I received the book as a gift at Christmas, and it came as a welcome break for me from reading John Rebus novels! The Book Although it is a novel - and therefore fiction - it is based around real events and at the end of the book is a section explaining which events in the book are real - and which are false. The book is set in 1909, in New York. It begins with Sigmund Freud and his two European compatriots Carl Jung and Sandor ...  Read the complete review

The latest book to fall off a supermarket shelf and in to my shopping basket (honestly they just jump off the shelves I dont pick them up at all, ever) was this debut novel by Jed Rubenfeld. The cover has printed on it that it was a winner at the 2007 Galaxy Book awards (Best Read 2007 - premature given its not even August yet) which I have to admit attracted me to it - theres only so many 'war/soldier' books a girl can swallow before getting bored of the same plots. Of course it also sports a Richard and Judy book club sticker which generally is enough to make me tell the book to jump back on to the shelf it attacked me from (no my dislike of R&J book club is ...  Read the complete review

My latest reading selection came from the ubiquitous Richard & Judy Book Club. This particular one is from their offerings for 2007 and it actually won their competition as their book of the year. Having not read all the others it was up against I can't comment on that result. However, their selections are usually pretty good reads and it certainly helps take out the wondering about what to read next. This one certainly did not disappoint so I can stay faithful to the scheme. Encouraging reading must be a good thing in general and should be supported. This book is predominantly set out as a detective novel. However, as it is set in New York in 1909, it can ...  Read the complete review

The Interpretation of Murder is one of those books you often see hanging around in charity shops. Clearly a popular title when it was first published, it has now become almost as ubiquitous in cut-price shops as The Da Vinci Code - a fate it does not really deserve. The Interpretation of Murder bases itself around Sigmund Freud's first and only visit to American in 1909. There, he was scheduled to give a series of lectures, but something so dreadful happened that he refused to ever go to America again. What those events were no-one knows, but this book presents a fictional account of what might have been. Actually, for all its trumpeting about ...  Read the complete review

After reading The Interpretation of Murder I cannot say it is the best book I have ever read, nor is the most compelling or well written but it is at least different. The Interpretation of Murder tells the story of Dr Younger who meets Sigmund Freud when he arrives in New York. The morning after this meeting however a stunningly beautiful young girl is found tied-up and strangled in her penthouse apartment. Things however don't stop there as the following night Nora Acton, another young and beautiful heiress is found tied to a chandelier in her parents' home. Luckily however Nora is still alive but physically wounded and unable to speak. It is not ...  Read the complete review